The Tomb of Christ Reborn

Last Wednesday, pilgrims and clergy celebrated completion of the $3.7 million project to restore the Tomb of Jesus in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. The project began in May 2016 after the conclusion of celebrations for the Orthodox Easter. The work took a couple of months longer than expected, but after 10 months the repairs were finished in time for the beginning of the Latin Easter celebrations.

However, scientists now warn that the site is at risk of a catastrophic collapse.

Exposing the Burial Bed

Almost a year ago, I wrote of plans for the repairs to the structure surrounding the tomb, known as the Edicule. I refer the reader to that article for a brief history of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the urgent need for repairs. The restorers from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) took apart the shrine’s façade, stone by stone. Usable parts were cleaned and damaged parts were replaced. Columns were reinforced with titanium rods and mortar was re-grouted. A new ventilation system was installed to alleviate the destruction caused by soot from candles.

The newly restored Edicule sits inside the rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. (Photograph by Oded Balilty, AP for National Geographic.)

In October, work had proceeded to the point where the original burial bench was unsealed for the first time in at least 200 years. A cream-colored marble slab that sat atop the burial bench for centuries was removed to reveal a layer of soil and fill material beneath. Removal of the debris uncovered something unexpected: another marble slab, gray in color, with a cross carved into its surface. This broken slab possibly dates from the Crusader period (12th century). With just hours to go before the schedule required the tomb to be resealed, the original limestone burial shelf was revealed intact.

Researchers also confirmed the remains of the original limestone tomb walls within the Edicule. A window was cut into the marble cladding of the southern interior wall (on your left as you enter the Edicule) to expose the original cave wall. It was feared that there might be nothing left of the original tomb after the deliberate destruction by the Fatimids in 1009, but it appears that more of the tomb survived than expected.

Throughout the project, extensive information was collected with ground-penetrating radar and thermal scanners. The data will take the NTUA team months to analyze but the plan is to use the information to create a virtual reconstruction of the tomb that will be viewable by anyone. The raw data collected by the NTUA team will eventually be made available to other scientists on a future “Holy Sepulcher Information Platform.”

A New Danger is Revealed

But the restoration of the Edicule revealed that parts of it and the surrounding rotunda of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher were built on an unstable foundation of rubble from earlier structures (Hadrian’s temple, Constantine’s church, Crusader church). Other parts were built on the steeply sloped, limestone bedrock of an ancient quarry. Mortar used to join the stones to the foundation had dissolved due to long-term exposure to moisture.

We think of Jerusalem as being a dry city in a dry country, but it actually gets as much rain per year as London. The problem is that Jerusalem is a city built on rock and the water has to go somewhere. It will collect in the lowest points where the building come in contact with the limestone bedrock. Over time, water will cause mortar to deteriorate.

And if that were not enough, tunnels and voids lurk directly underneath the Edicule and rotunda. For example, an eight-foot deep archaeological trench left over from a dig in the 1960s resides beneath an unsupported concrete slab south of the Edicule, in the area where visitors line up to enter the tomb. Several of the pillars that hold up the rotunda dome are seated atop four feet of unstabilized rubble.

It is ironic that a multi-million dollar project to save the Edicule from imminent collapse has uncovered yet another threat of catastrophic collapse.

To address the new risk, the NTUA restoration team is proposing a 10-month, $6.5 million project to remove the stone paving of the rotunda floor, stabilize the foundation rubble, and install new sewage and rainwater drainage around the perimeter of the rotunda.

Excavation of 1000 square feet of floor raises the potential for some serious archaeology at the most revered site in Christendom. Scientists will most likely be able to learn more about the various buildings constructed on the site and the ancient quarry that was used for graves in New Testament times.

The More You Know…

As a partner in the project, National Geographic paid for exclusive rights to document the restoration. The most detailed information and photographs will be found in articles on the NatGeo website. For further reading on the unsealing of the burial bed, see this article, and for a discussion of the completed restoration and new-found dangers to the Edicule, see this article.

An exclusive look at the restoration project will appear on an episode of Explorer on April 10 on the National Geographic Channel and the video will probably be posted later on the NatGeo.com site.

And, if I learn anything more, I’ll write it up and post it here as well.