The Holy sepulcher is one of the holiest shrines of Christianity. Legend has it that this was the place where Jesus was crucified and buried the Savior, here It was Sunday.

The place of execution and burial of Jesus was worshipped by the first generation of Christians. In 135, the Romans built a pagan temple here. The first Emperor Christian Constantine I in 325 replaced it with a huge Church. During construction, the mother of Constantine, Helena has conducted excavations were discovered the Holy Sepulchre, three cross and some nails from the place of execution.

The complex, built by Constantine, was great. Under the dome of the temple-mausoleum Anastasis (Greek for "Resurrection") rested in the Sepulchre. Next towered Basilica hexagonal dome, the crypt marked the place of finding of the cross. The interiors were richly decorated with mosaics, precious molding, marble.

To have survived only part of the complex. In 614, the Persian Shah Khosrau II, the buildings were severely damaged. The wife of Khosrow, the Christian, Mary convinced her husband to restore the Shrine. However, in 1009, Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amrullah ordered to completely destroy the Basilica. The Byzantine Emperor Constantine VIII bargained right to restore it, but the former glory of the temple was lost. Hearing about the destruction of the Holy sepulchre has become one of the causes of the Crusades. The crusaders rebuilt the Church in the Romanesque style, adding a bell tower (after the earthquake in 1545 it has remained only a part). In 1808 burned wooden dome of the Anastasis. In the second half of the XX century the building was restored.

Today the complex includes an ancient rotunda, which is the Edicule (the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre), Calvary with the Crucifixion, the Cathedral Church of the Katholikon, the underground Church of the Finding of the Holy cross, many chapels, several monasteries. The temple is divided between the six churches: Greek Orthodox, Catholic, Armenian, Coptic, Syrian and Ethiopian. Each one has its own chapel, their hours for services and prayers.

Over the centuries, closely neighboring faiths clashed. In the eighteenth century, Sultan Abdul Hamid established the division of property ("status quo"), observe this day: none has the right to change anything in the Church without the consent of the others. The symbol of the status quo – a wooden staircase Mason, standing motionless in the same place since 1757. Within the courtyard of the temple see her at the right arched Windows. The keys of the temple from the time of Saladin and Richard the Lionheart are stored in a Muslim family – it avoids the controversy surrounding the Church's gate.

Enlisting under the vaults of the Church, primarily a tourist notices the Stone of Anointing – the legend says that on it lay the body of Jesus after removal from the cross. On the right go up the steps leading to Calvary. Left – the entrance to the rotunda, where stands the Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre. From the center hole of the great dome in the gloom a ray of light falls. To the Shrine of always reaching the queue of pilgrims wishing to touch the Shrine. It is here that Orthodox Christians are waiting for the Easter Holy fire.