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On this day in 335, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was consecrated. According to tradition, the church contains two of the holiest sites in Christianity, the site where Jesus was crucified and Jesus’ empty tomb. Located in the Christian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, the church houses the last four stations of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final stages of the Passion of Jesus. The church has been a major destination for Christian pilgrimage since its creation in the fourth century, and today the wider complex also serves as the headquarters of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch in Jerusalem. Control of the church is shared amongst several denominations in a complicated set of arrangements.
