Via Dolorosa
The Via Dolorosa is believed to be the path down which Jesus walked while bearing his cross en route to crucifixion. The street itself runs through the Old City of Jerusalem and includes fourteen different Stations of the Cross. The first nine stations are along the Via Dolorosa itself and the final five can all be found within the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, constructed around Golgotha and Christ’s Tomb. The Via Dolorosa is one of the primary points of interest on Christian pilgrimage tours to Israel.
The Via Dolorosa begins at St. Mary’s Gate Street. Here, visitors can join the Italian Franciscan procession every Friday afternoon through the fourteen Stations of the Cross. These stations have changed throughout history, at one time only including seven stops. Today, the first station can be found in El-Omariye Medrese, the courtyard in which Jesus was sentenced; the second station sits at the Chapel of the Condemnation and the third station is at the Via Dolorosa intersection with King Solomon Street. Stations four through nine mark various points along the path at which Jesus fell, met his mother or spoke with various crying onlookers.
The Via Dolorosa ends on the doorstep of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Inside, visitors find the final Stations of the Cross, including the Chapel of Adam, the Holy Sepulcher with the Stone of Unction and the Place of the Three Marys. The building also contains the Chapel of the Jacobites, the Franciscan Chapel (and adjacent friary) with Alter of Mary Magdalene, the Armenian St. Helen’s Chapel and the Roman Catholic Chapel of the Invention of the Cross.