Description

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Church of the Resurrection,is a fourth-century church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. The church is also the seat of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem. Some consider it the holiest site in Christianity and it has been an important pilgrimage site for Christians since the fourth century.

According to traditions dating to the fourth century, the church contains both the site where Jesus was crucified, at Calvary, or Golgotha, and the location of Jesus’s empty tomb, where he was buried and resurrected. Both locations are considered immensely holy sites by Christians. In earlier times, upon which a pagan temple was built. The church and rotunda was built under Constantine in the 4th century and destroyed by al-Hakim in 1009. Al-Hakim’s son allowed Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos to reconstruct the church, which was completed in 1048. After it was captured by the Crusaders in 1099, it continued to undergo modifications, resulting in a significant departure from the original structure. Several renovations and restorations were made under the Ottomans. The tomb itself is enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicule.