The Holy Edicule
The Holy Edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is the “little” shrine that protects and covers the sepulchre or tomb of Jesus.
Its restoration was planned for 1959, but it took the 3 groups responsible for the edifice, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Franciscan order of the Catholic Church, and the Armenian Patriarchate, until 2016 to agree on it, when in 2015, the Israeli authorities closed the Edicule, deeming it unsafe. The restorers had only 9 months to perform the work.
The restorers found the original walls of the cave that surrounds the tomb still intact. Samples for dating were taken of the mortar between the original limestone surface of the tomb and the marble slab that covers it.
The research dated the mortar to around 345 A.D, which was the time Emperor Constantine, the 1st Christian emperor, sent representatives to Jerusalem to locate Jesus’ tomb.
The site they were directed to and where they built a shrine was originally outside the town limits, but currently lies within it. Now, inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
A new moisture barrier protects the holy bed and holy rock, now basically preserved for the next 2,000 years. Frescoes that had been completely invisible were uncovered.
The restorers of the edicule and tomb found no dichotomy between modern Science, such as ground-penetrating radar, laser-mapping with cm by cm precision, and thermographic cameras, and Faith, but they experienced the process as an excellent example of how both can coexist perfectly.
The re-opening was on 26/2/2017
To enter the tomb’s chamber you have to bend, and will then realize that everything is different than you had imagined. The architecture, chanting, and scents take you back in time:
The message of the Resurrection unites all of humanity. Therefore people of all religions and ethnicities should kneel at the tomb of Jesus the Christ:
