Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre you see visitor after visitor make their way through the crowds to bend down and kiss or place their face against the sacred anointing stone. The church is said to be one of two holiest sites in Christianity. The church, referred to sometimes as the Church of the Resurrection, sits on the site of where Jesus was crucified.
Within the walls of the church that dates back to the second century AD, you will find five representations of the final passage of Jesus. However, after the crucifixion the building did not start out as a church. It started out as a temple dedicated to the goddess Venus built by a Roman Emperor named Publius Aelius Hadrian.
The Roman Emperor built the temple dedicated to Venus to cover up the cave in which Jesus had been placed in and later arose from. It wasn’t until year 325 that Christian emperor, Constantine the Great, ordered a church be built in place of the ungodly temple. The church construction was finished in year 335.
The Stone of Anointing is where Jesus’ body was laid to rest. It is one of the first items you will come to as you enter the church from an outside courtyard. Some have questioned the stone saying that it was placed in the church during an 1810 reconstruction.
Inside the church is a stairway that is regarded as the site of where the crucifixion actually took place. Also inside the church walls is The Altar of the Crucifixion.