Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Church of the Holy Sepulchre is built on the traditional site of Jesus’ Crucifixion and burial and so the church encloses the site of both the cross and the tomb. Constantine the Great first built a church on the site about 336 CE, burned by the Persians in 614, restored 626, destroyed by the caliph al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh about 1009, and restored by the Byzantines. In the 12th century the Crusaders carried out a general rebuilding of the church. The present church dates mainly from 1810. the Rock of Calvary, where the Crucifixion is believed to have occurred, is encased in glass at the lavish Altar of the Crucifixion.Read more