Archaeological excavations and restoration of the floor of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem began for two years, after which, after documentation, any finds are expected to be re-buried to maintain the status quo, which is the status stipulated in the agreements.
This is the second stage of the church’s restoration work, after the multidisciplinary team of the Technical University of Athens discovered the Edicule Chapel, which was traditionally erected over the rocky tomb of Jesus, in 2016-2017, under the supervision of the Greek. The Orthodox Patriarchate.
The work is carried out on the ground under the supervision of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, in cooperation with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and the Armenian Patriarchate, the three custodians of this Church who have grown up throughout history.
Their role is enshrined in the Convention of 1852, which defined the territorial division of Christian churches into the Church and other Christian holy places.
We don’t know what’s underground
The newspaper said Professor Giorgio Piras, director of the department of ancient sciences at Sapienza University in Rome, who is responsible for archaeological excavations during the restoration of the floor.
They never systematically dig here, so we don’t know what we’ll find. But we must find at least some things, even from the remains of the Church of Constantine the Great
It is considered a reference to the ruling emperor from 306 to 337 times.
We hope to understand the structure of this very sacred place and there may even be some discoveries from Hadrian’s Temple
He added in reference to the Roman emperor Hadrian, who died in the period 117-138, and at that time a temple dedicated to Jupiter or Venus was erected in this place.
The present floor stones were laid from different eras from the Middle Ages to the last century. Most xix. Other parts were built from the beginning of the sixteenth century in the Crusades (in the eleventh and thirteenth centuries), and a smaller part, especially under the church, may date back to the time of Constantine the Great, which will be created by Elmi. Stone analysis.
Father Francesco Patton, representative of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, said restoration work had been planned earlier, but
It has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Excavations will be carried out sporadically to keep the church open and to restore the old stones if possible, but the broken stones will be replaced with similar local stones.
On the site of the church, there was a quarry until the 1st century BC, traces of which can be seen in the chapels under today’s church. At the time of Christ, this area was outside the walls of Jerusalem at the time, which Christian tradition identifies as the site of Jesus’ crucifixion, Golgotha, as described in Christian gospels.
After suppressing Bar Kochba’s uprising against Rome, Emperor Hadrian built a Roman city on the site of destroyed Jerusalem between 135 and 136 AD, called Aelia Capitolina, where experts say he erected a Roman church.
Constantine the Great began building the Byzantine church in 326, which was completed in 335. It was burnt down by the Persians in 614, but was later restored, remaining untouched until 1009, when the Muslim caliph of Cairo again almost completely destroyed the temple.
In 1042 ix. It was rebuilt by the Byzantine Emperor Constantine, but its territory became much smaller than before. After the establishment of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem in 1099, it was expanded and remodeled, and in 1142 the building was consecrated, almost as it is today. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher was badly damaged in a fire in 1808 and an earthquake in 1927.
Negotiations between the three churches on the current renovation have been going on for nearly 30 years, and now
For the first time in history
Archaeologists can also study the remains.
(MTI)
