Two burial/resurrection sites

Within the last two days, I've visited two different sites of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. One was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the other was the Garden Tomb. They are quite different from each other.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was originally built by the Byzantines when their empire became Christian. They built it on a hill that the Emperor's mother, in consultation with the local bishops, identified as Golgotha. It was a likely site because
*it had a hill
*it had a garden
*it had a tomb,
and it was outside the walls of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus, although the Romans had subsequently enlarged the walls, encompassing the area, and
*it is in a place that the Via Dolorosa could conceivably lead to.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed by the Muslims, then rebuilt by the Crusaders. Currently, a whole bunch of different sects have chapels there, for example the Catholics have a chapel where he was nailed to the cross, and the Greek Orthodox have a chapel where he was crucified. It doesn't stop there though: Armenians, Coptics, Ethiopians, and I think a couple other branches of orthodoxy and perhaps some other catholic orders have their places there. The church as a whole thus feels kind of disunified, and is also in bad repair. Let's Go says this is because the sects can't agree on anything and don't want to cede an inch. Without compromise, nothing gets done.

Let me attempts to describe the asthetic of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Kind of dark. Lots of vaulted ceilings and niches and paintings of saints. Lots of places to light candles. Lots of graphic pictures of Jesus on the cross. Smells like incense and sweat. Lots of priests in various robes. Crowded. No interpretave signs or materials whatsoever to tell you what you are looking at. Graphiti and scratchiti on the walls and banisters. Steep staircases are definitely not to code. Merchandising is not coordinated. People buy their chatchkes outside on the Via Dolorosa from independent vendors, then bring them into the church to bless them by laying them on the stone on which Jesus's body (according to some of the gospels) was purified. If you buy oil or perfume, you can even pour it onto the stone, them absorb it with a towel or piece of gauze and subsequently wring it back into the vessle so you can take the holy essence home. As for the tombs, you can't go into the tomb of Jesus because it is actually under the building, but the chapel over that spot recreats the experience - you have to crawl or severely hunch to get in. There was a long line to do so, so I skipped that experience. I did, however go into the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea (the one he bought after giving his away to Jesus). It was cramped, dank, creepy, everything a 1st century tomb should be. (Joseph and family are no longer there.)

Among the sects with sections of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, Protestantism is noticably absent. I don't know what site, if any, protestants officially recognize as the tomb of Jesus, but from what I know of the protestant tradition and asthetic sensibility, I think most protestants would be more comfortable at the Garden Tomb than at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

The Garden tomb has a shorter history than the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. In the nineteenth century, a Christian family bought some land just north of Jerusalem, in a place that had been a quarry in ancient times. They hired a consultant to help them turn it into a productive orchard or something, and that consultant happened to have archeological experience. He noticed that the hollows in the cliff of the quarry looked like the eye sockets and nose of an enormous skull. He posited that this could be Golgotha, since Golgotha means "place of the skull" in Aramaic. On the theory that this was the site of the crucifixion, they began excavating to find the tomb. It took them a long time, but they did eventually find one. Apparently it is of the right era. Also, it is not a natural cave but is hewn from the rock, which is supposedly also in agreement with the gospels. There is a chamber adjacent to the place for laying the body, which could be the weeping chamber described in the gospels. There was, naturally, no body inside the tomb, but they did find "part of a cross." Also, they found a wine press nearby. So, the Garden Tomb has perhaps just as good a claim to being the site of the crucifixion as the Church of the Holy Sepulchre does, since it has
*a hill (actually a cliff, thanks to the quarrying activity that was done there in earlier times),
*a garden (the wine press is evidence), and
*a tomb.

The Garden Tomb was also outside of the city walls at the time of Jesus, as is still is, and it is in a place that the Via Dolorosa could conceivably lead to.

The Garden Tomb's asthetic is really different from that of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. For one, it's outside. It's a garden, with lush flora, birds singing, meandering paths, shaded walks and open-air chapels. When you come in, you are greeted warmly by a middle aged Englishwoman who gives you a glossy trifold in the language of your choice explaining the grounds and everything that is to be seen there. Everything is well-signed and well-kempt. In place of the muttering monks of Holy Sepulchre, Garden Tomb has smily gardners who greet everyone with a jolly how do you do. You can go right into Jesus's tomb and see it for yourself, although the place where the body was lain is fenced off. Everything smells of flowers. There is a unity of design at the Garden Tomb. The entire thing is operated by "The Garden Tomb (Jerusalem) Association, England; established in 1893 for the preservation of the Tomb and Garden outside the city walls of Jerusalem, believed by many to be the Sepulchre and Garden of Joseph of Arimathea." The entire production is so English. The queen would be quite at home here with her hymnal, I'm sure. Even the mens' room door says "gents." (The Holy Sepulchre doesn't even have a bathroom.)

And the theology at Garden Tomb is more Anglican, too. In the interpretive materials, there is a lot of archeological evidence - an attempt is made to take a reasonable and sensible approach to this miracle, rather than just accept the tradition of the church and pass it on. There are no arcane rituals to participate in, no candles to light, nowhere to kneel. People may pray here, but with discretion. Naturally, there are no saints, and there is an attempt to reduce the number of miracles as much as possible down to just the resurrection, rather than to multiply miracles (the Greek Orthodox section of Holy Sepulchre has a rock that split open at the moment of Jesus's death to reveal the skull of Adam, the first man, and worshippers may line up to stick a hand through a hole in a metal plate and touch the rock). Indeed, the Garden Tomb doesn't definitevely claim to be the site of the resurrection:

"We cannot be sure where the crucifixion took place, but the actual site is of less importance than the spiritual significance of what really happened. Jesus went willingly to his death on the cross. It was all part of God's loving plan to bring us forgiveness."

The sign they have on the door to the tomb could probably be the motto of the place: "He is not here, for he has risen." In accordance with this theme, one doesn't see any statues, paintings, or mosaics of Jesus suffering on the cross at the Garden Tomb.

Finally, the Garden Tomb could teach Holy Sepulchre a thing or two about merchandising. In order to exit the complex, you have to go through the well-stocked gift shop which accepts all major foreign currencies as well as credit cards.