burial - revered by many Christians as the holiest spot in the world. It is a tiny, marbled area, only large enough to hold two people at once, and sometimes the wait on line can take several long minutes. As a city holy to the Christian faith, Jerusalem can also be proud of its many other historically significant churches. In addition, monasteries are scattered about the city, mostly in sites of particular significance - such as the Old City, the Valley of the Cross (where, it is said, the olive trees grow from which the wood for the “true cross” was taken), and others. Christian visitors to Jerusalem - and that includes just about every one of the more than over two million Christians that have been visiting Israel annually these past few years - will certainly want to experience the sites sanctified by their being a part of the early history of their faith. However, even before wandering about the ancient parts of the city, it’s a good idea to become acclimated to Jerusalem as it was 2000 years ago, by spending some time at the model of Second Temple Jerusalem, which has been moved to the Israel Museum’s Shrine of the Book complex, where it was also developed and “fine-tuned.” Based on old excavation material, the Talmud, the writings of the historian Josephus and the New Testament, the model was constructed for the main part, of materials used at the time of the Temple
tradition. The church contains the final five stations of the Via Dolorosa - the 14 Stations of the Cross. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher is a vast, confusing, and in many ways overwhelming building, set at the very heart of Christendom. Hundreds of thousands of visitors are drawn every year to this church, which has been a place of worship almost constantly for nearly 2000 years. The first Jerusalem Christian community worshipped here until at least 66 AD (when it became impossible to do so), despite the fact that around 42 AD the site was included within an expansion of the city walls. Although it had been incorporated into the city, it was not built upon, suggesting the acknowledgement and acceptance of its role as a place of devotion and worship. Emperor Constantine was responsible for building the first real church on this site, and since then there have been many layers of building and development, especially in the Crusader period. Today’s church is vast, encompassing the sites that are believed by many to be the locations of both Golgotha and Jesus’ tomb, which is housed in the Rotunda, a building within a building, under a great dome. A small entrance takes visitors into a central chamber, known as the Chapel of the Angel, from which there is another even smaller entrance into the place of Jesus’
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