The Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre: The History of Medieval Jerusalem’s Most Famous Sites

The most famous church in Jerusalem for nearly 2,000 years, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, often called the Church of the Resurrection, was built in the era of St. Constantine, and the church as a structure has no history separable from the city of Jerusalem and its environs. It is venerated as being on the site where Jesus was crucified and buried, and naturally, making it a crucial pilgrimage site for Christians, and it is now the home of the Greek Orthodox Jerusalem Patriarchate. Moreover, it was the site of many important councils, some of which altered Christian history forever. In short, the Sepulchre was and is synonymous with Jerusalem, and it was essentially the nodal center of the city.

Naturally, the Church has had a turbulent history just as Jerusalem has. The evidence that Christ's tomb was at that location was backed by the apostolic tradition and basic common sense. The local population had venerated this site since apostolic times, but so much had been destroyed in the ensuing centuries that records which might have been consulted were likely long lost already.

Among the world’s most recognizable man-made structures, the Dome of the Rock – known in Arabic as the Qubbat as-Sakara – is also one of its most mysterious. Although much of the Dome’s construction, reconstruction, and later additions are well-known from historical texts and archeological work, what it represents, why it was built where it was, and even its use remain the subject of scholarly controversy. Known for its immense size and beauty, and also for being located in the middle of Jerusalem, one of the world’s holiest cities, the Dome of the Rock has been the focus of political leaders who wished to legitimize their rule, religious warriors who believed that it empowered their weapons, and pilgrims who thought it was a site of salvation and enlightenment.

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