Unearthing The Tomb of Jesus: A Journey Through Time
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem houses the tomb of Jesus, making it his most accepted burial site to date.
The precise location of Jesus’ burial spot has yet to be approved archaeologically, but historians accept that the tomb resides in the Edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Jesus was claimed to have been born in Bethlehem, which is in present-day Palestine, around the year 1 and died in Jerusalem in the year 29.
The tomb of Jesus is placed in structures similar to a Russian nesting doll, and historians believe he was laid to rest inside a cave carved from a rock wall.
Around 326 CE, Constantine the Great delegated the construction of a church to house Jesus’ burial site, and his mother, Helena, and this task was entrusted with finding the exact location of Jesus’ tomb.
After an incredible odyssey, Helena and her companion, Eusebius, finally found a Roman temple believed to be the grave site of Jesus, and excavators unearthed a limestone tomb beneath it.
For preserving the tomb of Jesus, a marble slab was setup over the burial site in 1555 and remained sealed ever since.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre has faced geographical forces like water and others causing structural damage, leading to a great deal of decay and deterioration.
Renovating the church has made it challenging for its custodianship, which is shared by three major Christian denominations: the Roman Catholic, the Greek Orthodox, and the Armenian Apostolic.
The tomb of Jesus was kept untouched despite its deterioration, as nobody wanted to risk something so historically and spiritually important.