DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0038
JERUSALEM.
l5
building with a circular apse and an opening towards the east; the square Church of
St. Mary; and a very large church on the east of the sepulchre, called the Church of
Golgotha.
In 936, and again in 969, when the Fatimite Caliphs gained possession of the city,
portions of the churches were damaged by fire; and in 1010 they were partially destroyed by
El Hakim, the third Fatimite Caliph. This wild fanatic commenced a systematic persecution
of the Christians, drove them from their churches, and even attempted to destroy the Holy
Sepulchre. About the middle of the eleventh century the Christians began to return to
Jerusalem (1048 a.d.) and commenced the rebuilding of the churches; and it is to this period
that Mr. Fergusson ascribes the transference of the site of the Holy Sepulchre from the
Sakhra in the Haram esh Sherif to its present position. During the last half of the eleventh
century Jerusalem fell under Turkish rule, and the Christians were much oppressed ;
they were robbed and maltreated even whilst worshipping in their churches, and the pilgrims
had to submit to every species of insult. Among those who suffered was Peter the Hermit,
whose burning eloquence on his return to Europe roused the indignation of Western
Christendom and brought about the First Crusade. On the 15th July, 1099, the Crusaders
captured Jerusalem, and, after putting to death most of the Turkish population, entered
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre barefooted and singing hymns of praise. They soon,
however, found the building too insignificant, and commenced to remodel it and add new
shrines. An English monk named Saewulf, who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem about 1103,
has left an account of the buildings as they then existed, and a description of the numerous
" Holy Places," many of which have been handed down by tradition to the present day.
When Saladin took the city in 1187, and also in 1244, when the Christians were finally
driven from Jerusalem, the church and the sepulchre were injured, but with these exceptions
the buildings remained nearly in the state in which the Crusaders left them until the great fire
of 1808. The church, except the eastern portion, was almost entirely destroyed; the dome
fell in, crushing the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre ; the marble columns of the Rotunda were
cracked and calcined ; images, altars, pictures, were consumed in the general conflagration;
and there was a mass of ruin from the Chapel of Helena to the rock-hewn tomb of Joseph of
Arimathaea.
In the intrigues which followed at Jerusalem and Constantinople in connection with the
rebuilding of the church, the Greeks secured for themselves the greater portion of the
buildings, and during the execution of the repairs two noble monuments of the Latin or
Frank kingdom, the tombs of Godfrey de Bouillon and his brother Baldwin, disappeared.
The work was completed and the renovated church consecrated in 1810, a certain Greek,
Commenos by name, being architect.
The only entrance to the church at present is on the south side, from the open court or
quadrangle which has been alluded to above. South of the court is the Greek Monastery of
Gethsemane, occupying the site of the residence of the Grand Master of the Knights of
l5
building with a circular apse and an opening towards the east; the square Church of
St. Mary; and a very large church on the east of the sepulchre, called the Church of
Golgotha.
In 936, and again in 969, when the Fatimite Caliphs gained possession of the city,
portions of the churches were damaged by fire; and in 1010 they were partially destroyed by
El Hakim, the third Fatimite Caliph. This wild fanatic commenced a systematic persecution
of the Christians, drove them from their churches, and even attempted to destroy the Holy
Sepulchre. About the middle of the eleventh century the Christians began to return to
Jerusalem (1048 a.d.) and commenced the rebuilding of the churches; and it is to this period
that Mr. Fergusson ascribes the transference of the site of the Holy Sepulchre from the
Sakhra in the Haram esh Sherif to its present position. During the last half of the eleventh
century Jerusalem fell under Turkish rule, and the Christians were much oppressed ;
they were robbed and maltreated even whilst worshipping in their churches, and the pilgrims
had to submit to every species of insult. Among those who suffered was Peter the Hermit,
whose burning eloquence on his return to Europe roused the indignation of Western
Christendom and brought about the First Crusade. On the 15th July, 1099, the Crusaders
captured Jerusalem, and, after putting to death most of the Turkish population, entered
the Church of the Holy Sepulchre barefooted and singing hymns of praise. They soon,
however, found the building too insignificant, and commenced to remodel it and add new
shrines. An English monk named Saewulf, who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem about 1103,
has left an account of the buildings as they then existed, and a description of the numerous
" Holy Places," many of which have been handed down by tradition to the present day.
When Saladin took the city in 1187, and also in 1244, when the Christians were finally
driven from Jerusalem, the church and the sepulchre were injured, but with these exceptions
the buildings remained nearly in the state in which the Crusaders left them until the great fire
of 1808. The church, except the eastern portion, was almost entirely destroyed; the dome
fell in, crushing the Chapel of the Holy Sepulchre ; the marble columns of the Rotunda were
cracked and calcined ; images, altars, pictures, were consumed in the general conflagration;
and there was a mass of ruin from the Chapel of Helena to the rock-hewn tomb of Joseph of
Arimathaea.
In the intrigues which followed at Jerusalem and Constantinople in connection with the
rebuilding of the church, the Greeks secured for themselves the greater portion of the
buildings, and during the execution of the repairs two noble monuments of the Latin or
Frank kingdom, the tombs of Godfrey de Bouillon and his brother Baldwin, disappeared.
The work was completed and the renovated church consecrated in 1810, a certain Greek,
Commenos by name, being architect.
The only entrance to the church at present is on the south side, from the open court or
quadrangle which has been alluded to above. South of the court is the Greek Monastery of
Gethsemane, occupying the site of the residence of the Grand Master of the Knights of