Church of the Holy Sepulchre

June 20, 2013  Thursday part 2

At the close of today's dig, we walked north through the Old City.  We wanted to see the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  (Both Sepulchre and Sepulcher seem to be acceptable forms of the word.)  The most widely accepted sites of Calvary (Latin form of Aramaic word Golgotha) and the tomb of Jesus are inside the church.  There's so much information available online about this structure that I won't go into detail here.  I'll just share the photos we took.

It's actually a little hard to find when the streets are packed with tourists, vendors, and people just passing through.  We had visited the church in 2003 so we knew what we were looking for.  Once we found the right alley and gate to pass through, we were in the plaza.  

We could hear Russian and Japanese tour guides.  It also seemed to be a good day for Brazilians.

Even a little bit of shade is a relief.

Almost immediately after entering the church, there's a steep narrow stairway on the right leading to the Golgotha site.  There is an altar over the rock but glass windows on the sides allow a view of the rock.  We did not go up since we did that in 2003.  So many people on a hot day ... and I'm still using a cane.

Next to the staircase is a striking wall mosaic that depicts the removal from the cross, anointing for burial, and entombment of Jesus.  Moving from right to left, here are those scenes.

Note the earthquake and the skull in the ground.  One relatively late tradition says that Jesus was crucified over the place where Adam's skull was buried.

 If the mosaic weren't so shiny, we might be able to decipher the letters across the bottom.

There's so much emotion in these faces, and so much detail.  This is a beautiful work of art.

Directly beneath the mosaic is the stone of anointing, where it is claimed that Jesus' body lay while being prepared for burial.  Many of the visitors wanted to touch the stone and linger at this site.  The mosaic is visible in the background.

There are stunning blue vaults and a dome above the mosaic.

In this same part of the church were these three doors up in the air.  I don't what that's all about.

There was another beautiful mosaic.  The writing is in Armenian.

The sepulchre or tomb is in the second part of the church.  It's housed deep within a structure called the edicule (or aedicule, taken from the Greek word for compartment).  When we were here in 2003, there were almost no tourists in Jerusalem (the intifada was happening).  Our little group of 10 Americans and one tour guide was able to freely enter the edicule and wander around inside.  We did not go in this time, but many others did.  The present edicule is surrounded by protective barriers.

There's a front entrance ....

.... and a rear entrance.  

The rotunda over the edicule is designed so that light streams in directly over the edicule.  It has a very dramatic effect.

The Greek Orthodox chapel was adjacent to the edicule rotunda.  A white-robed priest was walking back and forth in that chapel, swinging his censer and jingling his keys -- perhaps preparing for a church service?

There's so much to look at inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.  In addition to the traditional holy sites, there are paintings and other artifacts from centuries past.  This carved wooden door is a masterpiece.