This church, which has attracted pilgrims since the 4th century, is the holiest Christian site in the world. It stands over the spot that is believed to encompass both the site of Christ’s crucifixion and tomb. Biblical sources describe both, and early Christian communities worshiped at the site during the first century. The Romans built a Temple to Aphrodite over this site in the second century, and Constantine The Great, the first Christian Roman emperor, built the first church here in 326 AD, which was in turn destroyed by Muslim invaders in 1009. The Crusaders recaptured and began to rebuild the church a hundred years later, and the present structure -- a mix of Byzantine, medieval, Crusader, and modern elements – slowly emerged.


I made this image of what is believed to be the site of Christ’s tomb. It is encased in large Greek Orthodox shrine, added in 1810. The shrine stands in the middle of a rotunda, below a recently built dome decorated with a 12-pointed star. My 24mm wideangle lens, low vantage point, and vertical frame draw the eye from the shrine up to the pure white hole in the center of the dome.