I was looking through some pictures tonight and ran across pictures that I took of a plan of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This old plan hung on the wall of a hotel where I stayed in Jerusalem. I don’t know how old the plan is, but it was full of detail.

The plan helps to make sense of the site as it is complicated to navigate through and easy to get turned around and not know which direction you are going in.

However, I have been there several times, so could pick out different places where I have been in the building.

One thing that caught my eye when I looked at the plan was the label on the 1st Century tombs that are back behind the Edicule. The tombs are just off of the Syrian Chapel, which is also known as the Jacobite Chapel. The label notes them as Tombs of Joseph and Nicodemus. The Joseph is Joseph of Arimathea and tradition holds that they are buried here. Of course there is also a tradition that Joseph of Arimathea went to England. It is just this, a tradition. However, the tombs are typical 1st Century Jewish tombs.

Here are the two tombs that are shown on the plan above. They are interesting to visit and to see what a 1st Century Jewish tomb looked like.

Steven

WwRI – Written with Real Intelligence