DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.10357#0041
i8
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
the "Ointment Bearers"—originally the Chapel of the Trinity—where all marriages and
baptisms were conducted, and which contains a very beautiful font; and the Chapel of
St. John, in the basement story of the great tower. The facade of the church occupies the
entire northern side of the court. There are two doorways, one open and one closed by the
masonry of the Chapel of Calvary, and above each door is a window. The whole dates from
the twelfth century, and forms part of the work of the Crusaders when they remodelled the
church. Some of the ornamentation is very similar to that which may be seen in many
churches in Normandy at the present day, and a bas-relief over one of the doors, representing
with much spirit the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, is supposed to have been executed in
France. The string courses above the doors and windows are partly made up of blocks of
stone belonging to a very beautiful cornice of classical design, almost identical with that of the
cornice of the Golden Gate in the east wall above the Haram esh Sherif. At the north-east
corner of the court is a small chapel dedicated to St. Mary of Egypt. Above this chapel
is another called the Chapel of the Agony, which is adjacent to Mount Calvary, and belongs
to the Latins. In the north-east corner of the court is the fine Campanile or Bell Tower,
projecting from the facade, and once standing free, but now incorporated with the church.
The tower was erected towards the close of the Latin occupation of Jerusalem, about 1170,
and as late as 1678 consisted of five stories. There are at present only three stories, so
that the striking effect which must have been produced by the tower when it was in its
original state is quite lost.
On entering the church we pass at once into the south transept of the Church of the
Crusaders, which, in consequence of the changes made in 1808, has now the appearance of a
vestibule. Here, on the left-hand side, some members of the Moslem family which has charge
of the keys will always be found seated when the church is open ; and the visitor has directly
in front of him the " Stone of Unction," which is said to mark the spot on which our Lord's
body was laid when it was anointed after having been taken down from the cross. The stone,
a large slab of limestone, is raised a few inches above the level of the floor, and is said to have
been placed in its present position when the church was rebuilt. A few paces to the left
of the stone is the spot where the Virgin Mary and the other women stood when the body of
Christ was anointed, and beyond it lies the Rotunda, which is sixty-seven feet in diameter.
The Rotunda formerly had twelve large columns which supported the dome, but there are
now eighteen piers which carry a clerestory and a dome open at the top. A vaulted aisle
with three apses, now walled up and divided into chambers, runs round the western half of
the Rotunda.
In the centre is the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre (see page 17), built, in the very worst
taste, of the ruddy coloured limestone known at Jerusalem as " Santa Croce " marble. The
building is about twenty-six feet long and eighteen feet wide. Its western end is polygonal in
shape, its eastern, square ; and the interior is divided into two chapels, one on the east, known
as the Chapel of the Angels, the other containing the Sepulchre of Christ. In front of the
PICTURESQUE PALESTINE.
the "Ointment Bearers"—originally the Chapel of the Trinity—where all marriages and
baptisms were conducted, and which contains a very beautiful font; and the Chapel of
St. John, in the basement story of the great tower. The facade of the church occupies the
entire northern side of the court. There are two doorways, one open and one closed by the
masonry of the Chapel of Calvary, and above each door is a window. The whole dates from
the twelfth century, and forms part of the work of the Crusaders when they remodelled the
church. Some of the ornamentation is very similar to that which may be seen in many
churches in Normandy at the present day, and a bas-relief over one of the doors, representing
with much spirit the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem, is supposed to have been executed in
France. The string courses above the doors and windows are partly made up of blocks of
stone belonging to a very beautiful cornice of classical design, almost identical with that of the
cornice of the Golden Gate in the east wall above the Haram esh Sherif. At the north-east
corner of the court is a small chapel dedicated to St. Mary of Egypt. Above this chapel
is another called the Chapel of the Agony, which is adjacent to Mount Calvary, and belongs
to the Latins. In the north-east corner of the court is the fine Campanile or Bell Tower,
projecting from the facade, and once standing free, but now incorporated with the church.
The tower was erected towards the close of the Latin occupation of Jerusalem, about 1170,
and as late as 1678 consisted of five stories. There are at present only three stories, so
that the striking effect which must have been produced by the tower when it was in its
original state is quite lost.
On entering the church we pass at once into the south transept of the Church of the
Crusaders, which, in consequence of the changes made in 1808, has now the appearance of a
vestibule. Here, on the left-hand side, some members of the Moslem family which has charge
of the keys will always be found seated when the church is open ; and the visitor has directly
in front of him the " Stone of Unction," which is said to mark the spot on which our Lord's
body was laid when it was anointed after having been taken down from the cross. The stone,
a large slab of limestone, is raised a few inches above the level of the floor, and is said to have
been placed in its present position when the church was rebuilt. A few paces to the left
of the stone is the spot where the Virgin Mary and the other women stood when the body of
Christ was anointed, and beyond it lies the Rotunda, which is sixty-seven feet in diameter.
The Rotunda formerly had twelve large columns which supported the dome, but there are
now eighteen piers which carry a clerestory and a dome open at the top. A vaulted aisle
with three apses, now walled up and divided into chambers, runs round the western half of
the Rotunda.
In the centre is the Shrine of the Holy Sepulchre (see page 17), built, in the very worst
taste, of the ruddy coloured limestone known at Jerusalem as " Santa Croce " marble. The
building is about twenty-six feet long and eighteen feet wide. Its western end is polygonal in
shape, its eastern, square ; and the interior is divided into two chapels, one on the east, known
as the Chapel of the Angels, the other containing the Sepulchre of Christ. In front of the