DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.12665#0229
MOUNT CALVARYt.
213
scending twenty-eight broad marble steps, the vis-
iter comes to a large chamber, eighteen paces
square, dimly lighted by a few distant lamps ; the
roof is supported by four short columns with enor-
mous capitals. In front of the steps is the altar*
and on the right a seat on which the Empress Hel-
ena, advised by a dream where the true cross was
to be found, sat and watched the workmen who
were digging below. Descending again fourteen
steps, another chamber is reached, darker and
more dimly lighted than the first, and hung with
faded red tapestry ; a marble slab, having on it a
figure of the cross, covers the mouth of the pit in
which the true cross was found. The next chapel
is over the spot where our Saviour was crowned
with thorns; and under the altar, protected by an
iron grating, is the very stone on which he sat,
Then the visiter arrives at Mount Calvary.
A narrow marble staircase of eighteen steps
leads to a chapel about fifteen feet square, paved
with marble in mosaic, and hung on all sides
with silken tapestry and lamps dimly burn-
ing : the chapel is divided by two short pillars,
hung also with silk, and supporting quadrangular
arches. At the extremity is a large altar, orna-
mented with paintings and figures ; and under the
altar a circular silver plate, with a hole in the cen-
tre, indicating the spot in which rested the step of
the cross. On each side of the hole is another, the
two designating the places where the crosses of the
two thieves were erected; and near by, on the same
VOL. II.-T
213
scending twenty-eight broad marble steps, the vis-
iter comes to a large chamber, eighteen paces
square, dimly lighted by a few distant lamps ; the
roof is supported by four short columns with enor-
mous capitals. In front of the steps is the altar*
and on the right a seat on which the Empress Hel-
ena, advised by a dream where the true cross was
to be found, sat and watched the workmen who
were digging below. Descending again fourteen
steps, another chamber is reached, darker and
more dimly lighted than the first, and hung with
faded red tapestry ; a marble slab, having on it a
figure of the cross, covers the mouth of the pit in
which the true cross was found. The next chapel
is over the spot where our Saviour was crowned
with thorns; and under the altar, protected by an
iron grating, is the very stone on which he sat,
Then the visiter arrives at Mount Calvary.
A narrow marble staircase of eighteen steps
leads to a chapel about fifteen feet square, paved
with marble in mosaic, and hung on all sides
with silken tapestry and lamps dimly burn-
ing : the chapel is divided by two short pillars,
hung also with silk, and supporting quadrangular
arches. At the extremity is a large altar, orna-
mented with paintings and figures ; and under the
altar a circular silver plate, with a hole in the cen-
tre, indicating the spot in which rested the step of
the cross. On each side of the hole is another, the
two designating the places where the crosses of the
two thieves were erected; and near by, on the same
VOL. II.-T