Church of the Holy Sepulcher

The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is located in the Christian quarter of Old Jerusalem. It is believed that this is where Jesus Christ was crucified, buried, and then miraculously resurrected. Every spring, the attention of most of the world's inhabitants is focused on the events taking place in the amazing temple in Israel. This happens on the night of Easter, when millions of believers await the descent of the Holy Fire with excitement and hope. The place where this happens is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

History of creation

The place where the Savior spent the last hours of his earthly life was worshiped by the first Christians. For this, the Roman authorities subjected them to torture and painful executions. It became possible to build the first Church of the Holy Sepulcher only under Emperor Constantine the Great, who was the first to recognize and accept Christianity. It was he who instructed his mother Elena to find the tomb of Christ and build a Christian church on this site. After the sacred place was found, the emperor ordered the demolition of the pagan temple of Venus located there and the construction of a Christian sanctuary on this site, within which Golgotha and the burial place of the Savior were enclosed. This happened around 326. The consecration of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher took place on September 13, 335. Throughout its existence, the church was destroyed, restored and rebuilt for various reasons. But at any time, the temple remained a sacred shrine for all faiths, for the right to own which there were real wars.

Fight for the shrine

Starting from the 7th century, Jerusalem was subjected to repeated seizures by the Arabs, united by the new Islamic religion, for several centuries. During the battles, many representatives of the Christian population die, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher receives significant damage. And in 1009, under Caliph Al-Hakim, the church was destroyed so badly that free-standing buildings resembling small chapels appeared in its place. Beginning in 1071, infidels, that is, Christian pilgrims, were prohibited from visiting the Holy City. It was the news of the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the ban on access to Jerusalem that became the main ideological reasons for organizing the Crusades.

Crusaders

The Crusades under the slogan of the struggle for the liberation of the Holy Land from Muslims lasted from 1096 to 1272. The main goal of the European knights was the desire to pray at the Holy Sepulcher. As a result of the campaigns, all Christians received the right to freely visit Jerusalem and the temple, which was rebuilt by the Crusaders. The majestic Romanesque cathedral was consecrated in 1149, under its arches all the holy places associated with the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ were again united.

Modern look

Since then, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher has been repeatedly damaged as a result of earthquakes, fires and wars. But each time the shrine was restored with love. The last large-scale reconstruction of the temple was completed in 2017. The temple is divided between six denominations of the Christian church, each of which has its own chapels and times for prayer. It is open to pilgrims from all over the world, and people from different countries come here every year.