Church of the Holy Sepulchre

In the ancient heart of old Jerusalem lies one of the holiest sites in the Christian faith. For many pilgrims, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre represents the physical presence of Jesus, as it is thought to have been constructed at the site of Golgotha. The rock of Golgotha – also known as Cavalry, is believed by much of the Christian world to be the precise location of Jesus’s crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

A church has stood at this site since the 4th century, when Emperor Constantine dispatched his mother, Empress Helena, to the Holy Land to track down the tomb of Jesus. When her investigations unearthed a tomb and a cross, Constantine ordered a church to be built on the site.

Many changes to the fabric of the church have taken place over the years, but some of the original structure remains. More importantly, it still houses the final five stations of the cross including the site where Jesus was crucified, the rock of Cavalry where he died, and the Tomb of the Holy Sepulchre. Multiple Christian faiths - Armenian Orthodox, Catholic, Coptic, Ethiopian, Greek Orthodox and Syrian – all have an interest in the church and share its ownership and spaces of worship.