Reason for the name
Christians believe that Jesus get up from death three days after his burial in this church.
Builder
Queen Helena the mother of King Constantine.
History
About 335 AD.
Shape and details
The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is located at the corner of the South Eastern Church of the Resurrection, it contains decorations, beautiful mosaics, images, icons and marble-covered land, topped by two domes, one is a large dome above the Holy Sepulcher and the other is smaller and called the dome
of the Church of the half world.
Christians believe that it also contains seven graves of the most prominent Franciscan clergy and a number of Crusader kings such as Yusuf al-Rami and his family. Their graves are located in the Western Temple of the Holy tomb, also there are the graves of Godfrey and Buldoinmen are the kings of the Franks, there is an unidentified grave, in front of the Church There is a tomb for the Crusader commander “Philippe Duetti” and another tomb at the Church of St. Jacob. There are many unknown graves in this place because the land was originally a cemetery and five graves, found in the church 13 wells to collect rainwater.
As for the Certificates of historians, they described the shape of the church as characterized by the beauty of decorations, inscriptions and colored mosaics, also the circular shape, it contains columns and corridors and the Holy Tomb is located in a small cave carved in rock and low entrance, and the main gate- the southern entrance-.
The construction of the dome of the church is an iron with two nodes in one center and the sides of the dome connected to the pillars of iron, higher opened of the dome is a glass curtain. The dome from the outside covered with bullets and the interior lined with tinned grease.
The church also contains a Christian chapel in the form of hexagonal and 26 feet long and 17.7 feet long, in the eastern prayer corridor there is another chapel called the Chapel of the Angels where 15 lamps light up. Divide between the Orthodox and the Latin (5), Armenians (4) and Copts (1), there is a stone covered with marble in the center of the chapel.
The church built in the place where the crucifixion of which Jesus crucified found, as Christians believe, and it is one of the churches in which all denominations and Christian groups participate, the relations and rights were organized and arranged throughout the Islamic ages Catholics and Armenians.
This church is a witness to the Arab-Muslim tolerance it witnessed.
The Persians also burned the church in 614 AD, restored it to the monk of Modestus, the head of the Abbaidine monastery, many of the travelers made their trips to Jerusalem and the Old City.
History of the Church in the Islamic Period
When the conquest of Jerusalem in 636 AD, Omar ibn al-Khattab, may Allah be pleased with him, give Christians safety on themselves and their churches did not hurt them. He did not accept to pray in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher when he offered to pray to him, and prayed close to them for fear that the Muslims then to take the church on the pretext that it is an Islamic right and evidence of that by his connections.
The church rebuilt by Patriarch Thomas I in 817 AD, during the reign of the Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun.
In 965, the church burned down and its dome fallen down until it rebuilt in the time of Patriarch Joseph II in 980 AD.
In the Fatimid era, Caliph Alhakem be’amrellah ordered the demolition of the church in 1009 AD, and the Christians and the Church of Constantine destroyed it, then he returned and allowed the Christians to build it again.
Then they built the Holy tomb Church, changed it from its original form and did not complete the construction due to the poverty in which they lived, in 1035 AD, Christians allowed building the church again, the new building built in 1048 AD.
When the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem in 1099, they built it and preserved its buildings, they assembled the temples in one church, they united the Anastasia Church and the martyrs, and other temples, and they built the east of the tomb, which is a half-world church now, and built a tower of bells.
After the conquest of Jerusalem in 1187 by Salahaddin, some of his companions pointed to the destruction and demolition of the church under the pretext that the Christians have no reason to occupy the Holy Land. He refused to follow the age of Ibn al-Khattab and ordered no one to harm, built in a place adjacent it a mosque and a band of
worshiped Sufis named Alkhankah Alsalhia.
The church rebuilt more than once, especially the Holy tomb, where the Armenian temple set on fire in 1808 and the fire spread throughout the church, the dome fell, and the Church of St. Helena and the Temple of the Latins also damaged.
*In 1810, the Romans took permission from the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II to renovate the church, they agreed to build a building – a building consisting of two rooms, the first is the vestibule – the Angel Church – and the small entrance covered with marble is the real gate of the original tomb, peace according to Christians’ belief – and still stands today.
*In 1834 AD, during the reign of Sultan Ibrahim Pasha, an earthquake shook the church. In the late 19th century, in 1869, France, Russia and Turkey agreed to renovate the church – the last restoration – and they spent 40,000 pounds on it. For the year 1927, an earthquake affected the features of the city and the British government created the construction again with wood and reinforced cement iron between 1930 and 1933. Then hit the city another earthquake after the British evacuated responsibility for anyone entering the church and the seriousness of entry.
Since 1947, the church not restored and stayed the same.
The Status of the Church among the Christians
In 451 AD, the status of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher raised when the Fourth Council declared its adoption as the Patriarchate of Jerusalem became the fourth Eastern Apostolic Patriarchate with Rome.
Over the years, the heritage of Christian holy sites flourished in Jerusalem, during the Ottoman period, the Ottoman regime protected by the Ottoman regime, which preserves the rights of the Christians of Jerusalem.
In the middle of the 17th century, the system provides for the Greek Orthodox, Latins, Armenians, Copts and Syriac Orthodox to have the right to oversee Christian holy sites, especially the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
The traditions of the Christians in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher existed for at least eight centuries. The customs dictate that 13 Arab families bear flags at the Holy Saturday before Easter, and that two Islamic family’s guard the church, namely, the families of Al-Joudeh and Al Nusseibeh, there mission is the opening of the gates of the church, this agreed by the Christians for centuries. One of the habits that prevailed in the old “take off the shoe” when entering the church, but this habit has disappeared with time.
The Custody of the Holy Land announced on 23/3/2016 that the churches of Jerusalem would restored to the tomb of Christ. The deterioration of the status of the grave is due to the increase in humidity and the flow of visitors to the church in a large way, also the intensity of the heat of candles, which light for hours at a very simple distance, contributing to the size of marble and the accumulation of black layer of oil by smoke. The Custody of Jerusalem said that it would rebuild the building located on top of the tomb to renovate by demolishing the current building. They report that the broken and thin pieces will replaced and the marble would cleaned and the foundations strengthened, the church contains five stages of the Via Dolorosa known to each Christian from the tenth stage. The church financed by three churches: Greek Orthodox and Armenian Franciscans with public and private contributions.