Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Church of the Holy Sepulchre, basilica in Jerusalem, built over the site in the garden of Joseph of Arimathea where Jesus is believed to have been placed in his tomb after the Crucifixion. Despite efforts by Roman emperor Hadrian to erase the memory of the spot by building a temple of Venus there in the 2nd century ad, the Sepulchre, or tomb of Jesus, survived to be restored by the first Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, in the 4th century. Constantine built a basilica on the site, which formed an adjunct to the circular church of the Sepulchre that had been buried under Hadrian’s temple. Constantine’s new basilica, however, was destroyed by invaders from Persia in 614.

The basilica was reconstructed soon afterward with few significant changes in design. In 638 Jerusalem was transferred from Christian to Muslim control, and although the first Muslim rulers of Jerusalem were tolerant of Christianity, the shrine suffered serious damage in 976 and again in 1009, when the Rock of the Holy Sepulchre itself was set upon with pickaxes and partly destroyed. The attacks on the holy places fueled European resentment and the Crusaders (see Crusades) captured Jerusalem in 1099, building a new basilica, the basic design of which survives in the current building. The new church, which also contained the alleged site of the mound of Calvary, where the Crucifixion took place, was consecrated in 1149. Below the church is the much older Crypt of Saint Helena, where Constantine’s mother (Helena) is said to have found Jesus’ Cross. Beyond is the rotunda of the Sepulchre. The collapse of the Crusader kingdom after 1187 led to a ban on pilgrimages, although the new Muslim ruler, Saladin, forbade any desecration of the church. By the 14th century, both Catholic and Orthodox monks (see Orthodox Church) were sharing the care of the building, with other Christian groups (such as the Egyptian Coptic Church and the Syrians) claiming rights of access. Major repairs to the dome of the Sepulchre were carried out in the 18th century and again, after a fire, in about 1810. Further reconstruction and repair work followed from 1863 to 1868 and in the 1920s under British rule, and has continued in more recent years, although progress on repairs has often been hindered by infighting among the various Christian groups who continue to share ownership of the different parts of the building.