For most of Christian history pilgrims believe that Jesus was crucified and buried at sites located within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. But the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is situated well inside the contemporary city walls and it is sometimes hard to imagine that it was once a menacing site on the outskirts.

Logically, a death sentence would be executed outside the walls ("carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha)" [John 19:17]. And Jewish custom requires that the dead be buried on the far edges of the city. Besides, the Scriptures emphatically state that the tomb was near a garden." At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid" [John 19:41].

At least one Christian explorer, General Gordon believed that an alternative site should be sought. As a Biblical student, he sought a place, which fit the biblical description of John 19 &20.

After being assisted by a dream which helped him locate the site he eventually discovered an area now called "Gordon’s Calvary", or the "Garden Tomb," a site is believed by many Protestants to be the site of Crucifixion and Resurrection. The serene and pastoral environment of the Garden Tomb makes it an ideal place for meditation and worship.