Summary
This post will be about our very first visit to a holy site in Israel, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which was 2 minutes walk from our Airbnb stay. Easter was celebrated the day we arrived in Jerusalem and in many Eastern cultures. Special feeling to go to Church of the Holy Sepulchre (the place which is identified as Golgotha, where Jesus is crucified) and see people celebrating Easter! We were staying at the Christian Quarter, Old City of Jerusalem which itself is amazing experience on Easter Sunday!
Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Visiting Church of the Holy Sepulchre on the Easter Sunday was something we didn’t plan. We were super excited to visit the place where Jesus was crucified 2000 years back. The time was well after 7:30 in the evening and there wasn’t much crowd so we were able to get inside Church of the Holy Sepulchre with ease. Even though there were lots of visitors inside we were able to visit most of the main holy sites inside the church and we were content.
We again visited Church of the Holy Sepulchre five days later to realize that we covered only 25% of the actual church in our first visit. We were super glad to visit the church, which wasn’t planned in our original itinerary for that day. That’s the flexibility we have as tourists touring by ourselves.
Entering the Church of Holy Sepulchre (Place of Jesus Christ crucifixion named ‘Golgotha’
Visitors of any religion can enter inside, but they are advised to be dressed modestly.
People all over the world come to visit the church of Holy Sepulchre and hence it is the second most visited place of Israel after the Western Wall
The Crusaders rebuilt the church and much of what is standing today is from that time period. The ladder in the upper right window has been there since at least 1860, a testimony to rivalries between the church’s factions
Originally built by the mother of Emperor Constantine in 330 A.D., the Church of the Holy Sepulcher commemorates the hill of crucifixion and the tomb of Christ’s burial
During Easter time (we were blessed to visit on Easter Sunday the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is particularly crowded).
Just inside the entrance to the church is the Stone of Anointing (also Stone of the Anointing or Stone of Unction), which tradition believes to be the spot where Jesus’ body was prepared for burial by Joseph of Arimathea.
Thousands of people pray every day at the Stone of Anointing
Highly venerated by the Orthodox, it is decorated with candlesticks and lamps.
Passion, crucifixion, stone of anointing
Lots of candles lit up along the way
Up a number of steep stairs, to the right of the entrance, is “mount” Golgotha.
Place of Crucifixion
Place of Crucifixion
After you’ve seen the Calvary, make your way to the Rotunda under the larger of the two domes to the stunningly constructed Aedicule which contains the Holy Sepulchre itself
Visitors and pilgrims to the site can now see, for the first time, the bare stone of an ancient burial cave through a small window that has been cut in the marble walls of the shrine.
There are also chapels in practically every corner of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
Visiting the site of Jesus crucifixion, The Golgotha (The Church of Holy Sepulchre) on Easter Day wasn’t planned but extremely special and thankful
Biblical Scriptures
Matthew 27:33-38
They all came to the place called Golgotha, which means the Place of the Skull. The soldiers gave Jesus wine mixed with gall to drink. He tasted the wine but refused to drink it. When the soldiers had crucified him, they threw lots to decide who would get his clothes. The soldiers sat there and continued watching him. They put a sign above Jesus’ head with a charge against him. It said: THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS. Two robbers were crucified beside Jesus, one on the right and the other on the left.
We came back from Church of the Holy Sepulchre around 8:30 pm and went to sleep, as we were all super tired from jet lag as well as from our road travel and border crossing from Jordan to Israel.
Things are going to be very exciting from next day morning where we will be visiting some amazing sites not only in the old city of Jerusalem, but also outside the city. We had daylight until 830 in the night every single day and that helped us to see a lot more attractions that we planned to do. Just after going to bed we could hear the bells from Church of the Holy Sepulchre and we were so thankful that we are in the close distance to where Jesus was actually crucified . The feeling was so awesome.
Entire Holy Land Trip Index
Trip to Israel as family was amazing. Getting to see the Holy Land which we have read and heard about since our childhood Bible story days is truly special indeed. We have put forth 50 detailed post on our DIY trip to Israel & Jordan.
Check out our entire 10 Day Trip Index of Holy Land. We would love to hear your feedback.
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