Holy Sepulcher

Holy Sepulcher sĕpˈəlkər [key], church in Jerusalem, officially the Church of the Resurrection. It is in the east central part of the Christian quarter, on the supposed site of Jesus' tomb. Steps connect it with chapels of St. Helena and of the Finding of the True Cross (see St. Helena; cross). The center of the church is Romanesque, the shrine itself being at the west end of the nave in a great rotunda; the entrance of the church is from the south. The fabric built by the Crusaders is preserved, somewhat disguised, in the present building. The church has been much quarreled over by various Christian groups. The Orthodox Eastern Church secured control of most of it from the Turks, but there are partitioned areas for the use of Roman Catholics (in the custody of the Franciscans), the Copts, the Syrian Jacobites, and the Gregorian Armenians.

See study by C. Coüasnon (1974).

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