Housing both the traditional site of Crucifixion and the Tomb of the Resurrection, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre has always been one of Christianity’s most sacred sites. A chapel marks the spot where pilgrims recall that Jesus was disrobed (John 19:23); a nearby altar gives pilgrims a place to remember the horror of where He was nailed to the cross. An ornate shrine stands above the rock on which many believe Jesus was crucified [Matthew 27:50-51].

After he was lowered from the cross the body of Jesus was prepared according to Jewish custom and buried in a tomb that had been prepared for a wealthy Jew, who offered it for Jesus. "As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.

Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus' body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock" [Matthew 27:57-60]. A large, ornate structure covers the place where the tombs once stood, Jesus.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre houses Christian sects of all varieties and has been destroyed and rebuilt many times though the centuries. Because it is crowded and noisy in the church, it is hard to imagine what the area was like in the time of Jesus. Yet 2,000 years ago both Calvary and the burial grounds were well outside the city walls according to many archeologists.