Within the church proper are the last four stations of the Cross of the Via Dolorosa, representing the final episodes of the Passion of Jesus. The Status Quo, an understanding between religious communities dating to 1757, applies to the site. The tomb itself is enclosed by a 19th-century shrine called the Aedicula. Each time the church was rebuilt, some of the antiquities from the preceding structure were used in the newer renovation.
Īccording to traditions dating back to the 4th century, it contains the two holiest sites in Christianity: the site where Jesus was crucified, at a place known as Calvary or Golgotha, and Jesus's empty tomb, where he is believed by Christians to have been buried and resurrected. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is a church in the Christian Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.