HOME   >   Israel   >   Jerusalem   >  

The Garden Tomb

The Garden Tomb is a rock-cut tomb in Jerusalem, which was unearthed in 1867 and is considered by some Christians to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus. The tomb has been dated by Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay to the 8th–7th centuries BC. The re-use of old tombs was not an uncommon practice in ancient times, but this would contradict the biblical text that speaks of a new, not reused, tomb made for himself by Joseph of Arimathea . Also, the trough in front of the tomb and the nearby cistern, described by proponents of the Garden Tomb as part of the tomb’s sealing system and as the surrounding garden’s source of water, respectively, have both been archaeologically dated to the Crusader period . The organisation maintaining the Garden Tomb refrains from claiming that this is the authentic tomb of Jesus, while pointing out the similarities with the site described in the Bible, and the fact that the Garden Tomb better preserves its ancient outlook than the more traditional, but architecturally altered and time-damaged tomb from the mostly crowded Church of the Holy Sepulchre; for all of these reasons, they suggest that the Garden Tomb is more evocative of the events described in the Gospels.The Garden Tomb is adjacent to a rocky escarpment which since the mid-nineteenth century has been proposed by some scholars to be Golgotha. It has since been known as Skull Hill or Gordon’s Golgotha. In contradistinction to this modern identification, the traditional site where the death and resurrection of Christ are believed to have occurred has been the Church of the Holy Sepulchre at least since the fourth century. Since 1894, the Garden Tomb and its surrounding gardens have been maintained as a place of Protestant worship and reflection by a Christian non-denominational charitable trust based in the United Kingdom named The Garden Tomb Association. As such, the Garden Tomb stands as a popular site of pilgrimage for many Christians, especially Evangelical Anglicans and other Protestants.

More details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Garden_Tomb

The-garden-tomb
Image by reijotelaranta (Pixabay)