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Open: summer: 5am- 9pm daily
Winter: 4am- 7pm daily
Jerusalem Church of the Resurrection of Christ, better known as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher (Arabic: كنيسة القيامة, Armenian: Սուրբ Յարութեան տաճար, Greek: Ναὸ ς τῆς Ἀναστάσεως, Latin Sanctum Sepulchrum) is a church in the Christian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. According to tradition dating back to at least the fourth century, it stands on the spot where, according to Holy Scripture, Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and then resurrected. The main rights of ownership and use of the temple's shrines belong to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Patriarchate of the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Franciscan Order.
Even the first Christians revered the site of the crucifixion and
burial of Jesus Christ, which was then located outside the city
limits, outside the walls of Old Testament Jerusalem. The memory of
this place was probably not lost after the destruction of the city
by Titus in 70. According to Eusebius, during the construction of
the new Roman city of Aelia Capitolina on the site of the
destruction of Jerusalem under Emperor Hadrian (135), a pagan temple
of Venus was built on the site of the Cave of the Sepulchre. The
first Church of the Holy Sepulcher was founded by St. Queen Helena,
was built under the leadership of Macarius of Jerusalem at the same
time as the Bethlehem Basilica. In addition to the Holy Sepulcher,
the temple complex included the supposed site of Golgotha and the
site of the discovery of the Life-Giving Cross. The result was a
monumental complex of buildings, the general appearance of which
emerges when archaeological studies of the modern building are
compared with descriptions made by early Christian authors and the
depiction on a mosaic map from Madaba (mid-5th century).
The
temple complex consisted of several parts stretching from west to
east: a round temple-mausoleum called Anastasis (translated from
Greek as “Resurrection”), in the center of which the Holy Sepulcher
was located, under a hexagonal tent canopy, then there was a
basilica - the Great Church , facing the altar towards Anastasis.
Inside the basilica there was a crypt marking the place where the
Cross was found. Peristyle courtyards were built between Anastasis
and the basilica, as well as at the eastern entrance to the
basilica. The main entrance was located from the east, from one of
the main streets, and from the south, from the city forum. The
building was richly decorated with different types of marble,
mosaics and precious castings.
The Church of the Resurrection
was solemnly consecrated in the presence of Emperor Constantine on
September 13, 335, in memory of which the holiday of the Renewal of
the Temple was established in the Orthodox Church.
The temple complex existed unchanged until the capture of Jerusalem
in 614 by the Persian king Khosrow II. The temple structures were
severely damaged, but under the leadership of the abbot of the
monastery, the Monk Theodosius Modestus (later Patriarch of
Jerusalem), by order of Emperor Heraclius, the temple was restored
in 629, although not to its former splendor. In 637, Jerusalem was
besieged by Caliph Umar. Patriarch Sophronius surrendered the city
after assuring the Muslims that a peace treaty had been concluded,
and the Church of the Sepulcher and the main Christian shrines of
Jerusalem were not damaged.
In 1009, Caliph Al-Hakim
bi-Amrullah, fueled by rumors and slander against Christians, in
violation of the repeatedly confirmed agreement concluded by
Patriarch Sophronius and Caliph Umar, sanctioned the massacres of
the Christian population of Jerusalem and the destruction of
Christian churches in the city and its environs. As a result of this
destruction, the basilica was irretrievably lost. Emperor
Constantine VIII negotiated with his son El-Hakim the right to
restore the temple (in exchange for such concessions as the opening
of a mosque in Constantinople). Construction work continued during
the reign of Constantine Monomakh until 1048, but in terms of its
scale and splendor this building was far from its ancient
predecessor. Several free-standing structures resembling chapels
were built. The role of the main church was assigned to the rotunda
of the Resurrection, which was better preserved than others, in the
eastern doorway of which a small apse was built (the so-called
“Monomachos”, 1020-1037).
When news of the destruction of the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher reached Europe, it served as one of the
reasons for agitation in Europe for the start of the Crusades.
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In the middle of the 12th century, the Crusaders rebuilt the temple
on a grand scale in the majestic Romanesque style (the cathedral of
the New Jerusalem Monastery near Moscow was later built in its
likeness). The construction, described by the chronicler William of
Tire, was completed under Queen Melisende with the erection of a
belfry. The Crusaders began construction around 1130, and the temple
was consecrated on July 15, 1149 - on the 50th anniversary of the
capture of Jerusalem. After the capture of Jerusalem by Muslims,
Saladin allowed Christian pilgrims to freely visit Jerusalem and the
Church of the Holy Sepulcher, and in the 13th century, Jerusalem and
the temple itself were owned for some time by the excommunicated
Emperor Frederick II.
Built in 1130-1147, the Church of the
Resurrection again united under one roof all the holy places
associated with the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The
Crusaders did not significantly change the structure of the western
part of the building, the round Anastasis, which retained the layout
and decorations dating back to the time of Emperor Constantine the
Great. These parts can still be seen - these are the ring supports
of the rotunda, designed as columns of the Corinthian order on
massive stone pedestals, which local tradition still calls “the
pillars of Helen”.
The main concern of the crusaders was the
construction of a new Great Church (Catholicon), adjacent to the
rotunda from the east. The structure had a plan in the form of a
T-shaped cross with numerous side chapels. An interesting solution
was implemented in the eastern part of the building, where a circuit
with a kind of “crown” of chapels was arranged behind the main
altar. This solution (the so-called Deambulatory) served as the
starting point for the development of compositions of this type in
the medieval architecture of Western Europe. Elements of early
Gothic are also noticeable in the stylistic techniques of interior
and exterior decoration. The final chord of the entire ensemble was
the construction of a five-tiered bell tower with a pointed top,
undertaken at the very end of the existence of the Christian states
of Palestine (1160-80).
Already in 1400, the temple was
decorated with two domes, and in 1510 there were 20 altars. Later,
after numerous collections from Catholic pilgrims, Patriarch
Nektarios began a complete restoration and remodeling of the temple.
An earthquake in 1545 led to the lowering of the bell tower to its
modern level. In 1555, the expansion of the temple was carried out
by Franciscan monks; They also own the interior decoration. Work on
the restoration and improvement of the temple continued until 1719,
and the temple stood in its new state until October 11, 1808, when
almost the entire temple burned down as a result of a fire. This
time, funds were collected by Orthodox believers, who, at enormous
expense, were able to restore the temple, but not in its former
beauty and luxury that it had before the fire of 1808.
There is a known fire in 1808, when a wooden tent over Anastasis burned
down and the edicule was damaged. However, in 1808-1810, the rotunda was
restored with the participation of architects from different countries.
In the 1860s, a hemispherical dome was built over the rotunda from metal
structures, its shape reminiscent of the original completion of
Anastasis from the time of Constantine the Great. The building still
exists in this form today.
In the middle of the 20th century, a
significant reconstruction of the temple was planned (architect Antonio
Barluzzi), the implementation of which was prevented by the Second World
War. In 1959, a thorough restoration of the building began; in
1995-1997, restoration work also affected the dome. In 2013, the last
missing bell, made in Russia, was installed on the bell tower.
In
2016, a large-scale reconstruction of the temple began. As a result of
the restoration work, which was completed in March 2017, among other
things, the supporting metal beams were removed from the edicule.
On February 25, 2018, the heads of Christian denominations in
Jerusalem made an unprecedented decision to close the Church of the Holy
Sepulcher in protest against a bill transferring rights to some church
lands to the state and against the levying of a city tax (arnon) on
church real estate. The entrance to the main shrine of the Christian
world was closed indefinitely for the first time in almost 70 years of
the existence of Israel.
On February 28, 2018, the Church of the
Holy Sepulcher was reopened to pilgrims.
The modern Church of the Holy Sepulcher is an architectural complex that
includes Calvary with the site of the Crucifixion, a rotunda (a
structure with a dome, under which the Edicule is directly located), the
Catholicon (the cathedral temple of the Church of Jerusalem), the
underground Church of the Discovery of the Life-Giving Cross, the Church
of St. Helen Equal to the Apostles and several chapels. On the territory
of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher there are several monasteries, a
number of auxiliary premises, galleries, etc.
The temple is
divided between six denominations of the Christian Church: Greek
Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, Coptic, Syrian and Ethiopian, each of
which is allocated its own chapels and hours for prayer. Thus, the
Franciscan Church and the Altar of Nails belong to the Catholic Order of
St. Francis, the Church of Equal-to-the-Apostles Helen and the chapel of
the “Three Marys” - the Armenian Apostolic Church, the grave of St.
Joseph of Arimathea, altar on the western part of the Edicule - Coptic
Church. Golgotha and the Catholicon belong to the Jerusalem Orthodox
Church. The Edicule is shared by different faiths - the liturgy on the
Holy Sepulcher is served one after another by the Orthodox (at 1 a.m.),
Armenians (at 4 a.m.), then Catholics (from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m.).
Often this division causes conflicts between representatives of
different faiths. To avoid any misunderstandings between different
faiths, the keys to the temple have been kept since 1192 by the
Arab-Muslim family of Jauda Al Ghadiya (Arabic: جودة آل غضية), and the
right to unlock and lock the door belongs to another Muslim family,
Nusayba (Arabic: عائلة نسيبة). ). These rights have been passed down
from father to son in both families for centuries.
Holy Sepulcher. Located in Kuvuklia. Belongs to the Orthodox Church of
Jerusalem, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Armenian
Apostolic Church;
The place where, according to legend, the Cross of
Christ stood. Located on Golgotha in the chapel of the Crucifixion.
Belongs to the Jerusalem Orthodox Church;
Stone of Anointing. Located
in the vestibule of the temple. Belongs to the Orthodox Church of
Jerusalem, the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Armenian
Apostolic Church;
The stone, according to legend, is part of the
stone rolled away from the Holy Sepulcher by an angel. Located in the
chapel of the Angel in the Edicule. This stone is a Greek Orthodox
throne;
The place where the Holy Cross was found. The place is marked
by a slab with the image of a cross. Located in a cave in the chapel of
the Finding of the Cross. Belongs to the Jerusalem Orthodox Church;
Part of the column to which, according to legend, Jesus Christ was tied
during the scourging. According to another legend, Jesus Christ was
placed on this pillar, wearing a crown of thorns, and they mocked him.
Located in the chapel of the Crown of Thorns or Ridicule. Belongs to the
Jerusalem Orthodox Church;
Prison of Christ. Perhaps this place was
where Jesus Christ was before his execution. Belongs to the Jerusalem
Orthodox Church;
The world's largest particle of the Life-giving
Cross of the Lord and many relics of saints. They are located in the
Orthodox treasury to the right of the entrance to the temple.