No 5

(Calvary)

The exact location of Calvary or Golgotha (skull) where Jesus was crucified is unknown because Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD and for sixty years the city lay in ruins. According to the Bible, the place of Jesus’ death was outside the walls of Jerusalem (John 19:20), near a gate (Hebrews 13:12) and on a hill where He could be seen from afar (Matthew 27:39). John also states, “ Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid.” (John 19:41). There are various sites that have been suggested but only two have received serious consideration – they are: The Church of the Holy Sepulchre and Gordon’s Calvary with its Garden Tomb. The site called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre came into being in 312 AD by Emperor Constantine who gave orders to excavate the city and found a hill where the remains of three crosses were discovered along with a tomb. Constantine erected a magnificent group of buildings on the site and the dedication ceremony was in 335 AD. Over the centuries, the buildings were demolished and rebuilt a few times by various conquerors. No place in the Catholic world has been regarded with such awe and reverence as this location; there is just one problem – it is located within the walls of Jerusalem. The other site called Gordon’s Calvary and the Garden Tomb is located on a grey hill north of Jerusalem and some 700 feet from the Damascus Gate. It was brought into being by an English general by the name of Charles G Gordon in 1885 who had observed its peculiar shape. The place has rock formations that closely resemble a skull – caverns for eyes, a protruding rock for a nose and a long slit for the mouth. The area was excavated and an ancient garden was found along with a tomb that had once been sealed by a rolling stone. Both these sites are hypothetical because the true site of Jesus’ death and resurrection is not known.