The Holy Sepluchre
Within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre lies the most adored site in the Christian world—the tomb where Jesus was buried and rose again. The Bible describes how Christ was buried in a rock-cut tomb belonging to Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy Jewish follower of Jesus. Jewish tradition forbade burial within the walls of a city, and the Gospels specify that Jesus was buried outside of Jerusalem, near the site of his crucifixion on Golgotha ("the place of skulls"). A few years after the burial, the walls of Jerusalem were expanded, putting Golgotha and the nearby tomb within the city. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was first built over the tomb’s site and was destroyed and rebuilt several times, finally rebuilt by the Crusaders in the 12th century. In 2016, the shrine that encloses the tomb, known as the Edicule, was opened for the first time in centuries for restoration.