DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5074#0179
JERUSALEM.
163
and there is no reason for supposing them counterfeits;
they testify incontestably to the fact of there having
been sepulchres in the rock of this place ; the Church
of St. Helena, furthest to the East, from its remaining,
like these tombs, in its original simplicity, is more im-
pressive and striking than the rest of the Church: it
is a crypt of simple, massive architecture, round arches
supported on very short, thick columns, with the
curious basket-work capital of which we have spoken
before; it is impossible not to believe that the form
came originally from the " nets of checker-work " made
" for the chapiters that were upon the top of the pil-
lars," in the Temple built by Solomon (1 Kings vii. 17).
Descending several steps more, we reach the Chapel of
the "■ True Cross "— a vault in which the Cross is said
to have lain hidden and forgotten for 300 years, — it is
rudely excavated, and is believed by some people to
have been an old cistern.
The Chapel of Calvary is at the southern side of the
Church, near the entrance door, but above a very steep
staircase—the rent in the rock is shown, like every
other relic here, enclosed in metal cages or hidden be-
neath slabs of marble. The chapel is dressed up with
all manner of tinsel ornaments, artificial flowers, pic-
tures, &c, but there is one beautiful altar, sent from
Italy, with fine groups of figures round it in relief: it is
of bronze gilt.
The Gfreeks have the centre of the Church, and show
"the centre of the world," in the middle of it, as well as
the tomb of Adam (Melchizedek lies close by),—the
Church is a mass of gilding and carving and marble;
the Latins have a plain, ugly chapel on the north side
of the Eotunda—-they have also an organ, on which
they play most extraordinary things by way of sacred
M 2
163
and there is no reason for supposing them counterfeits;
they testify incontestably to the fact of there having
been sepulchres in the rock of this place ; the Church
of St. Helena, furthest to the East, from its remaining,
like these tombs, in its original simplicity, is more im-
pressive and striking than the rest of the Church: it
is a crypt of simple, massive architecture, round arches
supported on very short, thick columns, with the
curious basket-work capital of which we have spoken
before; it is impossible not to believe that the form
came originally from the " nets of checker-work " made
" for the chapiters that were upon the top of the pil-
lars," in the Temple built by Solomon (1 Kings vii. 17).
Descending several steps more, we reach the Chapel of
the "■ True Cross "— a vault in which the Cross is said
to have lain hidden and forgotten for 300 years, — it is
rudely excavated, and is believed by some people to
have been an old cistern.
The Chapel of Calvary is at the southern side of the
Church, near the entrance door, but above a very steep
staircase—the rent in the rock is shown, like every
other relic here, enclosed in metal cages or hidden be-
neath slabs of marble. The chapel is dressed up with
all manner of tinsel ornaments, artificial flowers, pic-
tures, &c, but there is one beautiful altar, sent from
Italy, with fine groups of figures round it in relief: it is
of bronze gilt.
The Gfreeks have the centre of the Church, and show
"the centre of the world," in the middle of it, as well as
the tomb of Adam (Melchizedek lies close by),—the
Church is a mass of gilding and carving and marble;
the Latins have a plain, ugly chapel on the north side
of the Eotunda—-they have also an organ, on which
they play most extraordinary things by way of sacred
M 2