Church of the Holy Sepulchre
성묘 교회
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands in the Old City of Jerusalem. Christians believe it was built over the places where Jesus was crucified, at a small rocky hill called Calvary or Golgotha, and where he was laid in his tomb. "Sepulchre" is an old word for a tomb.
See it on the 3D globe →At a glance
- Country
- Palestinian Territories
- Location
- Old City of Jerusalem
- Built
- 335
- Type
- Religious building
Quick answers
Where is Church of the Holy Sepulchre?
Church of the Holy Sepulchre is in Old City of Jerusalem, Palestinian Territories.
When was Church of the Holy Sepulchre built?
Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built in 335.
Built over the traditional site of Jesus’s crucifixion and tomb, and shared by several Christian denominations.
It is one of the most important pilgrimage sites for Christians around the world. The first church here was built under the Roman emperor Constantine the Great and dedicated in 335. Since then it has been destroyed, damaged by fire and rebuilt several times. Today the building is shared by six Christian churches: Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Coptic, Syriac Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox. Each looks after its own parts of the church, following very old rules about who may do what.
History
Building began around 326, during the reign of Constantine, whose mother Helena is remembered as one of the church's founders. In 1009 the Fatimid caliph al-Hakim ordered the church destroyed, and it was rebuilt by 1048 under the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos. Crusaders from Europe took Jerusalem in 1099, and in 1149 they finished renovations that brought all the holy places under one roof. A fire in 1808 caused the dome over the tomb to collapse, and it was rebuilt in 1809 and 1810. From 2016 to 2017, experts restored the Aedicule, the small shrine that stands over the tomb.
Sharing one church
Because so many groups care deeply about the church, they follow an agreement called the Status Quo, which goes back to the 1700s and was fixed in place by an Ottoman sultan's decree in 1853. It says each area stays with the church that held it, and that nothing in a shared space can be changed unless everyone agrees. That is why a wooden ladder has rested on a window ledge above the entrance since at least the 1750s: no one can agree on who is allowed to move it. Even the front door is special. Local Muslim families have looked after its keys for centuries, and each day a member of one family opens and closes the door.
Fun facts
- For centuries its door keys have been kept by local Muslim families.
- A wooden ladder on a ledge above the main entrance, nicknamed the Immovable Ladder, has hardly moved since the 1750s.
- Someone tried to steal the Immovable Ladder in 1981, but police caught them straight away.
- One Muslim family says it has held the church's keys since 1187, when the sultan Saladin gave them the job.
- Six different Christian churches share the building and must agree before shared areas can be changed.
On the globe
The model shows the church built over the traditional site of Jesus's crucifixion and tomb in Jerusalem's Old City. Zoom in to explore the church among the old city's buildings.
Quiz time
Which is older: Church of the Holy Sepulchre or Western Wall?
Show the answer
Western Wall. (335 vs 19 BC) Western Wall →
Nearby on the globe
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Sources
- Read more on Wikipedia
- Church of the Holy Sepulchre — Wikipedia
- The Immovable Ladder of the Holy Sepulchre — Aleteia
- Muslim keepers of the Holy Sepulchre keys — Inter Press Service
Updated: 2026-10-13