The Church of the Holy Sepulchre ( Latin: Ecclesia Sancti Sepulchri) is also called the Church of the Resurrection or Church of the Anastasis by Eastern Christians ( Arabic: كَنِيسَةُ ٱلْقِيَامَة Kanīsatu al-Qiyāmah Greek: Ναὸς τῆς Ἀναστάσεως Naos tes Anastaseos Armenian: Սուրբ Յարութեան տաճար Surb Harut'yan tač̣ar).įollowing the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 during the First Jewish–Roman War, Jerusalem had been reduced to ruins. 3.16 Chapel of the Invention of the Holy Cross.3.10 Franciscan area north of the Aedicule.3.9 Syriac Chapel with Tomb of Joseph of Arimathea.3.8 Armenian monastery south of the Aedicule.
The main denominations sharing property over parts of the church are the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic, and to a lesser degree the Coptic Orthodox, Syriac Orthodox, and Ethiopian Orthodox. The church has been a major Christian pilgrimage destination since its creation in the 4th century, as the traditional site of the resurrection of Christ, thus its original Greek name, Church of the Anastasis ('Resurrection').Ĭontrol of the church itself is shared, a simultaneum, among several Christian denominations and secular entities in complicated arrangements essentially unchanged for over 160 years, and some for much longer. Within the church proper are the last four stations of the Cross of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of the Passion of Jesus. The Status Quo, an understanding between religious communities dating to 1757, applies to the site. The tomb itself is enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicula. Each time the church was rebuilt, some of the antiquities from the preceding structure were used in the newer renovation. Īccording to traditions dating back to the 4th century, it contains the two holiest sites in Christianity: the site where Jesus was crucified, at a place known as Calvary or Golgotha, and Jesus's empty tomb, where he is believed by Christians to have been buried and resurrected.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.