DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5504#0053
144 Travels in Greece, Turkey, and the Holy Land,
whose riches, however, the restoration could not have been
made. Accordingly, the Greeks find, in the rebuilding, a
pretext for excluding the Latin Catholics from the Holy Se-
pulchre.
The cupola, built of stone cemented with stucco, and open
like that of the Pantheon at Rome, is supported by six pilas-
ters, each separated by an arcade, which forms a circular gal-
lery, divided between the different communions admitted into
this basilick.
The Holy Sepulchre is a low marble altar, seven feet in
length, and two and a half in breadth, enclosed in a small
square chapel built of marble, lighted by rich and magnificent
lamps, and entirely covered by hangings of velvet. A paint-
ing within, above the sacred stone, represents the triumph
of Jesus Christ over death. It is impossible not to feci a pro-
found emotion, not to be impressed with a religious awe, on
seeing this humble tomb, the possession of which has given
rise to more disputes than that of the finest earthly thrones;
of this tomb the power of which has survived empires, which
has been so often bedewed with the tears of repentance and
of hope, and from above which the most ardent supplications
daily ascend to heaven. In this mysterious tabernacle, before
this altar of perfumes, to which our attention has been direct-
ed from our earliest infancy, we feel an irresistible influence—
an overpowering deiight. This is the land promised by the
prophets, and guarded by angels, to which the tiara of Con-
stantino, and the brilliant helmet of Tancred, did homage.
Lastly, it would seem that the regards of the Eternal are more
specially fixed on this monument, the sacred pledge of the
pardon and redemption of man.
I quitted the chapel, and spent an hour in visiting the dif-
ferent stations, which the Italian monks who accompanied me
explained. By several lateral naves, beneath lofty vaults sup-
ported by columns of an order of architecture unknown to me,
we proceeded, sometimes amid the glare of thousands of lamps,
and at others feebly aided by the uncertain light let in by small
glazed windows. " Here," said my conductors, " Christ was
scourged; here," proceeding onward, " his head was invested
with the crown of thorns;" and, still farther, " here lots were
drawn for his garments." Having ascended by a flight of steps
winding spirally round an enormous pillar, we entered another
church, on the pavement of which they imprinted kisses: it
was Golgotha. A monk who was still busied in reciting his
prayers, pointed to a gate through which the cleft in the rock
where our Saviour's cross was fixed was to be seen. " Here,"
•aid he, " is the place where opprobrium and sorrow aided
whose riches, however, the restoration could not have been
made. Accordingly, the Greeks find, in the rebuilding, a
pretext for excluding the Latin Catholics from the Holy Se-
pulchre.
The cupola, built of stone cemented with stucco, and open
like that of the Pantheon at Rome, is supported by six pilas-
ters, each separated by an arcade, which forms a circular gal-
lery, divided between the different communions admitted into
this basilick.
The Holy Sepulchre is a low marble altar, seven feet in
length, and two and a half in breadth, enclosed in a small
square chapel built of marble, lighted by rich and magnificent
lamps, and entirely covered by hangings of velvet. A paint-
ing within, above the sacred stone, represents the triumph
of Jesus Christ over death. It is impossible not to feci a pro-
found emotion, not to be impressed with a religious awe, on
seeing this humble tomb, the possession of which has given
rise to more disputes than that of the finest earthly thrones;
of this tomb the power of which has survived empires, which
has been so often bedewed with the tears of repentance and
of hope, and from above which the most ardent supplications
daily ascend to heaven. In this mysterious tabernacle, before
this altar of perfumes, to which our attention has been direct-
ed from our earliest infancy, we feel an irresistible influence—
an overpowering deiight. This is the land promised by the
prophets, and guarded by angels, to which the tiara of Con-
stantino, and the brilliant helmet of Tancred, did homage.
Lastly, it would seem that the regards of the Eternal are more
specially fixed on this monument, the sacred pledge of the
pardon and redemption of man.
I quitted the chapel, and spent an hour in visiting the dif-
ferent stations, which the Italian monks who accompanied me
explained. By several lateral naves, beneath lofty vaults sup-
ported by columns of an order of architecture unknown to me,
we proceeded, sometimes amid the glare of thousands of lamps,
and at others feebly aided by the uncertain light let in by small
glazed windows. " Here," said my conductors, " Christ was
scourged; here," proceeding onward, " his head was invested
with the crown of thorns;" and, still farther, " here lots were
drawn for his garments." Having ascended by a flight of steps
winding spirally round an enormous pillar, we entered another
church, on the pavement of which they imprinted kisses: it
was Golgotha. A monk who was still busied in reciting his
prayers, pointed to a gate through which the cleft in the rock
where our Saviour's cross was fixed was to be seen. " Here,"
•aid he, " is the place where opprobrium and sorrow aided