The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre Jerusalem: History and Future

Abstract

In 1972 Fr Charles Coüasnon, O.P., gave the Schweich Lectures to the British Academy on this subject. As consultant architect to the restoration work he seemed well qualified to do so. But work continued until 1980, and it was not until 1982 that Fr Virgilio Corbo, O.F.M., published a definitive account of the work, Il Santo Sepolcro di Gerusalemme, in three handsome volumes. I did not succeed in obtaining a copy until 1984. Thus it was not surprising that Canon Ronald Brownrigg's Come, See the Place: the ideal companion for all travellers to the Holy Land, 1985, still treats Fr Couasnon as having had the last word, and prints plans some of which are erroneous. Only since then has an article in Le Monde de la Bible, Mars-Avril, Paris, 1984, no.33, in a number devoted entirely to the Holy Sepulchre, by Fr Florentino Dfez Fernandez, O.S.A.,3 reached me, describing in a summary form his excavations for the Greek Orthodox Community on the site of Golgotha, and for the Armenian Community behind the Crusader Chapel of St Helena. A definitive account of his work is eagerly awaited, for his work adds to our knowledge and corrects some previous misconceptions of the chronology of the site.

The Tomb of Christ, Jerusalem: A Photogrammetric Survey

“…At the instigation of Dr. G. S. P. Freeman-Grenville (Freeman-Grenville, 1987) the religious communities in the Holy Sepulchre agreed to a proposal by Professor Martin Biddle and Magister Birthe Kjdlbye-Biddle to make a comprehensive investigation and record of the present state of the Edicule. This site investigation and record had to be made without interfering with the almost continuous presence in and around the Edicule of pilgrims, tourists and members of the religious communities carrying out their regular liturgies.…”