Preservation experts have opened for the first time in at least two centuries what Christians believe is Jesus’ tomb inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, Israel.
Some of the historic work was witnessed by photographer Gali Tibbon, who captured images of the site believed to contain the rock upon which Jesus was laid in about 33 AD as it was uncovered as part of ongoing restoration at the site.
A marble slab covering the site, among the holiest in Christianity, was pulled back for three days as part of both restoration work and archeological analysis, experts on the scene told reporters.
Photo: AFP
It was the first time the marble had been removed since at least 1810, when the previous restoration work took place following a fire, and possibly earlier, said Father Samuel Aghoyan, the church’s Armenian superior.
A painting of Jesus can be seen in the narrow area above where the marble slab was removed.
Debris and material was found beneath the marble and was being further studied, Aghoyan said.
“It is moving in a sense, something we’ve been talking about so many centuries,” Aghoyan said.
National Geographic has been documenting the restoration work which is being carried out by a team of Greek specialists.
It reported that “the exposure of the burial bed is giving researchers an unprecedented opportunity to study the original surface of what is considered the most sacred site in Christianity.”
“My knees are shaking a little bit,” Fred Hiebert, an archeologist-in-residence at the National Geographic Society, said in a video on the organization’s Web site during the work at the shrine.
A shrine was built in the 19th century over the site of the cave where Jesus is believed to have been buried before his resurrection, and it is visited by throngs of tourists and pilgrims each day.
Earlier this year, a major restoration project began on the site, surrounded by a structure called an edicule and located at the center of the church in Jerusalem’s Old City, underneath its dome.
The project required the agreement of the various Christian denominations that share the church, which also contains the area where Jesus is believed to have been crucified and his body anointed.
The restoration project is expected to be completed around March next year, in time for Easter, and the site has remained open to visitors for nearly the entire time, although the ornate edicule has been surrounded by scaffolding.
Its marble slabs have weakened over the years, caused in part by the thousands of people who visit daily.
Four people jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed today after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month. Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham (岑子杰), who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021. "Let me spend some time with my family," Sham said after arriving at his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan. "I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
RSS