Church of the Holy Sepulcher
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, encompassing three Stations of the Cross, is the most important and holy of Israel’s Christian religious sites. It is the site of Jesus’ burial and resurrection.
The church building was first constructed in the 4th Century by Constantine the Great, following his personal conversion to Christianity and subsequent attempt to force the religion on the Roman Empire. Later, the current structure was erected by Crusaders occupying the Holy City in 1099. When Ottoman rulers took over in 1187, two Muslim families were asked to guard the building, a task their descendants happily fulfill to this day.
On the site, visitors will find the Chapel of Adam, the Holy Sepulcher with the Stone of Unction and the Place of the Three Marys. Inside is the Holy Sepulcher with a tomb made out of natural rock and the Angel’s Chapel where the angel announced Christ’s resurrection. This is the room into which Jerusalem’s Greek Orthodox Patriarch enters on the eve of Easter Day to light a holy fire representing Jesus’ resurrection. Within the building’s walls are also the Chapel of the Jacobites, the Franciscan Chapel (and adjacent friary) with the Alter of Mary Magdalene, the Armenian St. Helen’s Chapel and the Roman Catholic Chapel of the Invention of the Cross.
Open daily 4:30am-8:00pm