and their end? after long hesitation, I determined to describe the principal stations of Jerusalem from the following considerations: 1st, Nobody now reads the ancient pilgrimages to Jerusalem; and what is very old will probably appear quite new to the majority of readers. 2dly, The church of the Holy Sepulchre no longer exists; it was totally destroyed by fire since my return from Judea. I am, I may say, the last traveller by whom it was visited, and for the same reason, I shall be its last historian. But as I have not the presumption to suppose that I can excel the very able descriptions which have already been given, I shall avail myself of the works of my predecessors, taking care, however, to elucidate them by my own observations. Among these works, I should have chosen in preference those of Protestant travellers, as more consonant with the spirit of the age: we are apt at the present day to reject what springs, in our opinion, from too religious a source. Unfortunately, I found nothing satisfactory on the subject of the Holy Sepulchre in Pococke, Shaw, Maundrell, Hasselquist and some others. The scholars and travellers who have written in Latin concerning the antiquities of Jerusalem, as Adamannus, Bede, Brocard, Willibald, Breydenbach, Sanuto, Ludolph, Reland,* Adrichomius, Quaresmius, Baumgarten, Fureri, Bochart, Arias Montanus, Reuwich, Hesse, and Cotovic,† would impose the necessity of making translations which, after all, would furnish the reader with no new information. I have therefore adhered to the French travellers, and among these I have preferred the description of the Holy Sepulchre by Deshayes, for the following reasons: Belon, 1550, of high celebrity as a naturalist, says scarcely a word concerning the Holy Sepulchre; his style is, moreover, too antiquated. Other authors, either of still older date, or contemporary with him, as Cachermois, 1490, Regnault, 1522, Salignac, 1522, le Huen, 1525, Gassot, 1536, Renaud, 1548, Postel, 1553, Giraudet, 1575, likewise employ a language too different from that of the present day. Villamont, 1588, overloads his work with minutie, and he has neither order nor judgment. Father Boucher, 1610, is so piously extravagant, that it is impossible to quote him. Benard writes with great sobriety; though no more than twenty years of age *His work, Palæstina ex Monumentis veteribus illustrata, is a miracle of erudition. His description of the Holy Sepulchre is so circumstantial, as to give the whole of the hymns sung by the pilgrims at every station. There is also a description of Jerusalem in the Armenian language, and another in modern Greek; the latter I have scen. The more ancient descriptions, as those of Sanuto, Ludolph, Brocard, Breydenbach, Willibald, Adamannus, or rather Arcuife, and the venerable Bede, are curious, because they afford the means of judging what changes have since taken place in the church of the Holy Sepulchre ; but in reference to the modern edifice, they are wholly useless. § De Vera, in Spanish, is very concise, and yet extremely perspic uous. Zuallardo, who wrote in Italian, is vague and confused. Pietro de la Valle charms by the peculiar elegance of his style, and his singular adventures; but he is no authority. Some of these authors wrote in Latin; but there are old French versions of their works. at the period when he travelled; but he is diffuse, insipid and obscure. Father Pacifico, 1622, is vulgar, and his narrative is too concise. Monconys, 1647, pays attention to nothing but medical recipes. Doubdan, 1651, is clear and learned, and well worthy of being consulted; but prolix, and apt to lay too much stress on trivial objects. Roger, the friar, 1653, who was for five years attached to the service of the holy places, possessed erudition and judgment, and writes in a lively, animated style; his description of the Holy Sepulchre is too long, and on this account I have excluded it. Thevenot, 1656, one of the most celebrated French travellers, has given an excellent account of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, and I would advise the reader to consult his work but he implicitly follows Deshayes. Father Nau, a Jesuit, 1674, added to a knowledge of the Oriental languages, the advantage of visiting Jerusalem with the marquis de Nointel, our ambassad or at Constantinople, and the same gentleman to whom we are indebted for the first drawings of Athens: but it is a pity that the learned Jesuit is so insufferably prolix. Father Neret's letter in the Lettres Edifiantes is excellent in every respect, but omits too many things. The same may be said of Du Loiret de la Roque, 1688. As to travellers of very recent date, such as Muller, Vanzow, Korte, Bescheider, Mariti, Volney, Niebuhr, and Brown, they are almost totally silent respecting the holy places. The narrative of Deshayes, 1621, who was sent to Palestine by Louis XIII. appears therefore to me the fittest to be followed. 1st, Because the Turks themselves were solicitous to show this ambassador whatever was curious at Jerusalem, and he might even have obtained admission, had he pleased, into the mosque of the temple. 2dly, Because he is so clear and so precise, in the style, now somewhat antiquated, of his secretary, that Paul Lucas has according to his usual custom, copied him, verbatim, without acknowledging the plagiarism. 3dly, Because d'Anville, and this indeed is the primary reason, has taken Deshayes's map for the subject of a dissertation, which is, perhaps, the masterpiece of that celebrated geographer.* Deshayes will, therefore, furnish us with the description of the church of the Holy Sepulchre, to which I shall subjoin my observations. The Holy Sepulchre, and most of the sacred places are attended by Franciscan friars, who are sent thither every three years; and though they are of all nations, yet they all pass for French or Venetians, and they could not maintain their ground were they not under the king's protection. About sixty years ago, they had a habitation without the city on mount Sion, on the spot where our Saviour instituted the Lord's Supper with his disciples; but their church having been converted into a mosque, they have since resided * This dissertation, which is very scarce, is printed in the following pages. in the city on mount Gihon, upon which stands their convent, called St. Saviour's. Here dwells their superior, with the members of the family, which supplies with monks all the places in the Holy Land that stand in need of them. "From this convent to the church of St. Sepulchre is but two hundred paces distant. It comprehends the Holy Sepulchre, mount Calvary and several other sacred places. It was partly built by direction of St. Helena, to cover the Holy Sepulchre; but the Christian princes of succeeding ages caused it to be enlarged so as to include mount Calvary, which is only fifty paces from the Sepulchre. "In ancient times, mount Calvary, as I have already observed, was without the city; it was the place where criminals, sentenced to suffer death, were executed; and that all the people might attend on these occasions, there was a large vacant space between the eminence and the wall of the city. The rest of the hill was surrounded with gardens, one of which belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, who was, in secret, a disciple of Jesus Christ; here he had constructed a sepulchre for himself, and in this the body of our Lord was deposited. The Jews were not accustomed to bury their dead in the manner that we do. Each according to his ability, had a kind of little closet excavated in some rock, where the body was laid at length upon a table, also cut out of the rock, and this receptacle was closed by a stone placed before the entrance, which was generally no more than four feet in height. "The church of the Holy Sepulchre is very irregular, owing to the nature and situation of the places which it was designed to comprehend. It is nearly in the form of a cross, being one hundred and twenty paces in length, exclusive of the descent to the discovery of the Holy Cross, and seventy in breadth. It has three domes, of which that covering the Holy Sepulchre serves for the nave of the church. It is thirty feet in diameter, and is covered at top like the Rotunda at Rome. There is no cupola, it is true; the roof being supported only by large rafters, brought from mount Lebanon. This church had formerly three entrances, but now there is but one door, the keys of which are cautiously kept by the Turks, lest the pilgrims should gain admittance without paying the nine sequins, or thirty-six livres demanded for this indulgence; I allude to those from Christendom; for the Christian subjects of the grand seignior pay no more than half that sum. This door is always shut; and there is only a small window, crossed with an iron bar, through which the people without hand provisions to those within, who are of eight different nations. "The first is that of the Latins or Romans, which is represented by the Franciscan friars. They are the keepers of the Holy Sepulchre, the place on mount Calvary, where our Lord was nailed to the cross, the spot where the sacred cross was discovered, the stone of unction, and the chapel where our Lord appeared to the Blessed Virgin after his resurrection. "The second nation is that of the Greeks, who have the choir of the church, where they officiate: in the midst of it is a small circle of marble; the centre of which they look upon as the middle of the globe. "The third is the nation of the Abyssinians, to whom belongs the chapel containing the pillar of Im propere. "The fourth nation is that of the Copts, who are Egyptian Christians: these have a small oratory near the Holy Sepulchre. "The fifth nation is the Armenian. They have the chapel of St. Helena, and that where the soldiers cast lots for, and divided the apparel of our Lord. "The sixth nation is that of the Nestorians or Jacobites, who are natives of Chaldea and of Syria. These have a small chapel near the spot where our Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene, in the form of a gardener, and which is, on that account, denominated Magdalene's Chapel. "The seventh is the nation of the Georgians, who inhabit the country between the Euxine and the Caspian Sea. They keep the place on mount Calvary where the cross was prepared, and the prison in which our Lord was confined till the hole was made to set it up in. "The eighth nation is that of the Maronites, who inhabit mount Lebanon. Like us, they acknowledge the supremacy of the pope. "Exclusively of these places, which all who are within are at liberty to visit, each nation has a particular spot allotted to it in the aisles and corners of this church, where its members assemble and perform their devotions, according to their respective rituals: for the priests and religious who enter this place, are usually two months before they leave it, that is, till others are sent from the convent in the city to attend in their stead. It would be scarcely possible to remain there long without being ill, because the place has very little air, and the vaults and walls produce a coldness that is extremely unwholesome; nevertheless, we there found a worthy hermit who has assumed the habit of St. Francis, and lived twenty years in the place without ever leaving it. There is, moreover, such abundant employment to keep two hundred lamps burning, and to sweep and cleanse all the holy places, that no more than four hours a night can be allowed for sleep. "On entering the church, you come to the stone of unction on which the body of our Lord was anointed with myrrh and aloes, before it was laid in the sepulchre. Some say that it is of the same rock as mount Calvary; and others assert that it was brought to this place by Joseph and Nicodemus, secret disciciples of Jesus Christ, who performed this pious office, and that it is of a greenish colour. Be this as it may, on account of the indiscretion of certain pilgrims, who broke off pieces, it was found necessary to cover it with white marble, and to surround it with an iron railing, lest people should walk over it. This stone is eight feet, wanting three inches, in length, and two feet, wanting one inch, in breadth ; and above it, eight lamps are kept continually burning. "The Holy Sepulchre is thirty paces from this stone, exactly in the centre of the great dome, of which I have already spoken: it resembles a small closet, hewn out of the solid rock. The entrance, which faces the east, is only four feet high, and two feet and a quarter broad, so that you are obliged to stoop very much to go in. The interior of the sepulchre is nearly square. It is six feet, wanting an inch, in length, and six feet wanting two inches in breadth, and from the floor to the roof eight feet one inch. There is a solid block of the same stone, which was left in excavating the other part. This is two feet four inches and a half high, and occupies half of the sepulchre; for it is six feet, wanting one inch, in length, and two feet and five sixths wide. On this table the body of our Lord was laid, with the head toward the west, and the feet to the east: but on account of the superstitious devotion of the Orientals, who imagine that if they leave their hair upon this stone, God will never forsake them, and also because the pilgrims broke off pieces, it has received a covering of white marble, on which mass is now celebrated. Forty-four lamps are constantly burning in this sacred place, and three holes have been made in the roof for the emission of the smoke. The exterior of the sepulchre is also faced with slabs of marble, and adorned with several columns, having a dome above. "At the entrance of the sepulchre there is a stone about a foot and a half square, and a foot thick, which is of the same rock, and served to support the large stone which closed the access to the sepulchre. Upon this stone was seated the angel when he spoke to the two Maries; and as well on account of this mystery, as to prevent the sepulchre from being entered, the first Christians erected before it a little chapel, which is called the Angel's Chapel. "Twelve paces from the Holy Sepulchre, turning toward the north, you come to a large block of gray marble, about four feet in diameter, placed there to mark the spot where our Lord appeared to Mary Magdalene in the form of a gardener. "Further on is the chapel of the apparition, where, as tradition asserts, our Lord first appeared to the Virgin Mary after his resurrection. This is the place where the Franciscans perform their devotions, and to which they retire; and hence they pass into chamhers with which there is no other communication. find a small vaulted chapel, seven feet long and six wide, otherwise denominated the prison of our Lord, because he was here confined while the hole was made for erecting the cross. for erecting the cross. This chapel is opposite to mount Calvary, so that these two places form what may be termed the transept of the church, the hill being to the south, and the chapel to the north. "Very near this is another chapel, five paces long and three broad, standing on the very spot where our Lord was stripped by the soldiers before he was nailed to the cross, and where they cast lots for his apparel, and divided it among them. "Leaving this chapel, you find on the left a great staircase, which pierces the wall of the church, and descends into a kind of cellar dug out of the rock. Having gone down thirty steps, you come to a chapel on the left hand, which is commonly called the chapel of St. Helena, because she prayed there while she caused search to be made for the sacred cross. You descend eleven more steps to the place where it was discovered, together with the nails, the crown of thorns, and the head of the spear, after lying buried in this place upward of three hundred years. "Near the top of this staircase, turning toward mount Calvary, is a chapel, four paces long and two and a half broad, under the altar of which is a pillar of gray marble spotted with black, two feet in height, and one in diameter. It is called the pillar of Impropere, because our Lord was there forced to sit down, in order to be crowned with thorns. "Ten paces from this chapel, you come to a very narrow staircase, the steps of which are of wood at the beginning, and of stone at the end. There are twenty in all, by which you ascend to mount Calvary. This spot, once so ignominious, having been sanctified by the blood of our Lord, was an object of the particular attention of the first Christians. Having removed every impurity, and all the earth which was upon it, they surrounded it with walls, so that it is now like a lofty chapel enclosed within this spacious church. It is lined in the interior with marble, and divided by a row of arches into two parts. That toward the north is the spot where our Lord was nailed to the cross. Here thirty-two lamps are kept continually burning: they are attended by the Franciscans, who daily perform mass in this sacred place. "In the other part which is to the south, the holy cross was erected. You still see the hole dug in the rock, to the depth of about a foot and a half, besides the earth that was above it. Near this is the place where stood the crosses of the two thieves. That of the penitent thief was to the north, and the other to the south; so that the first was on the right hand of our Saviour, who had his face turned toward the west, and his back to Jerusalem, which lay to the east. Fifty lamps are kept constantly burning in honour of this holy spot. "Below this chapel are the tombs of Godfrey de Bouillon and his brother Baldwin, on which you read these inscriptions: Hie jacet inclytus dux Godefridus de Rex Balduinus, Judas alter Machabeus Besides these tombs, four others are to be seen, half demolished. On one of them may still be read, but not without great difficulty, an epitaph given by Cotovic. "Mount Calvary is the last station of the church of the Holy Sepulchre ; for, twenty paces from it, you again come to the stone of unction, which is just at the entrance of the church." Deshayes having thus described in order the stations of all these venerable places, I have now nothing to do but to exhibit to the reader a general view of the whole together. It is obvious, in the first place, that the church of the Holy Sepulchre is composed of three churches: that of the Holy Sepulchre, properly so called; that of Calvary; and the church of the discovery of the Holy Cross. The first is built in the valley at the foot of Calvary, on the spot where it is known that the body of Christ was deposited. This church is in the form of a cross, the chapel of the Holy Sepulchre constituting in fact the nave of the edifice. It is circular, like the Pantheon at Rome, and is lighted only by a dome, beneath which is the sepulchre. Sixteen marble columns adorn the circumference of this rotunda: they are connected by seventeen arches, and support an upper gallery, likewise composed of sixteen columns and seventeen arches, of smaller dimensions than those of the lower range. Niches corresponding with the arches appear above the frieze of the second gallery, and the dome springs from the arch of these niches. The latter were formerly decorated with mosaics, representing the twelve apostles, St. Helena, the emperor Constantine, and three other portraits unknown. The choir of the church of the Holy Sepulchre is to the east of the nave of the tomb: it is double, as in the ancient cathedrals; that is to say, it has first a place with stalls for the priests, and beyond that a sanctuary raised two steps above it. Round this double sanctuary run the aisles of the choir, and in these aisles are situated the chapels described by Deshayes. It is likewise in the aisle on the right, behind the choir, that we find the two flights of steps leading, the one to the church of Calvary, the other to the church of the discovery of the Holy Cross. The first ascends to the top of Calvary, the second conducts you down underneath it: for the cross was erected on the summit of Golgotha, and found again under that hill. To sum up then what we have already said, the church of the Holy Sepulchre is built at the foot of Calvary; its eastern part adjoins that eminence, beneath and upon which have been constructed two other churches, connected by walls and vaulted staircases with the principal edifice. The architecture of the church is evidently of the age of Constantine: the Corinthian order prevails throughout. The columns are either too heavy or too slender, and their diameter is almost always disproportionate to their height. Some double columns which support the frieze of the choir are, however, in a very good style. The church being lofty and spacious, the profile of the cornices displays a considerable degree of grandeur; but as the arches which separate the choir from the nave were stopped up about sixty years ago, the horizontal line is broken, and you no longer enjoy a view of the whole of the vaulted roof. The church has no vestibule, nor any other entrance than two side doors, only one of which is ever opened. Thus this structure appears to have never had any exterior decorations. It is besides concealed by shabby buildings, and by the Greek convents erected close to its walls. The small structure of marble which covers the Holy Sepulchre is in the figure of a canopy, adorned with semi-gothic arches ; it rises with elegance under the dome, by which it receives light, but it is spoiled by a massive chapel which the Armenians have obtained permission to erect at one end of it. The interior of this canopy presents to the view a very plain tomb of white marble, which adjoins on one side to the wall of the monument, and serves the Catholic religious for an altar. This is the tomb of Jesus Christ. The origin of the church of the Holy Sepulchre is of high antiquity. The author of the Epitome of the Holy Wars, Epitome Bellorum sacrorum, asserts, that fortysix years after the destruction of Jerusalem by Vespasian and Titus, the Christians obtained permission of Adrian to build, or rather to rebuild, a church over the tomb of their God, and to enclose in the new city the other places venerated by the Christians. This church, he adds, was enlarged and repaired by Helena, the mother of Constantine. Quaresmius contests this opinion, "because," says he, "the believers were not allowed till the reign of Constantine to erect such churches." This learned monk forgets that anterior to the persecution by Dioclesian, the Christians possessed numerous churches, and publicly celebrated the mysteries of their religion, Lactantius and Eusebius boast of the opulence and prosperity of the believers at this period. Other writers worthy of credit, Sozomenes, in the second book of his History; St. Jerom, in his letters to Paulina and Ruffinus; Severus, in his second book; Nicephorus, in his eighteenth; and Eusebius, in the life of Constantine, informs us that the pagans surrounded the sacred places with a wall; that they erected a statue of Jupiter on the tomb of Jesus Christ, and another of Venus on mount Calvary ; and that they consecrated a grove to Adonis on the spot where our Saviour was born. These testimonies not only demonstrate the antiquity of the true worship at Jerusalem, by this very profanation of the sacred places, but prove that the Christians had sanctuaries on those spots. Be this as it may, the foundation of the church of the Holy Sepulchre dates at least as far back as the time of Constantine. A letter of that prince is yet extant, in which he commands Macarius, bishop of Jerusalem, to erect a church on the place where the great mystery of salvation was accomplished. This letter Eusebius has preserved. The bishop of Casarea then describes the new church, the dedication of which occupied eight days. If the account of Eusebius required confirmation from other testimonies, we might adduce those of Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, Catech. 1, 10, 13. of Theodoret, and even of the Itinerary from Bourdeaux to Jerusalem, in 333, which says: Ibidem, jussu Constantini imperatoris, basilica facta est mira pulchritudinis. This church was ravaged by Cosroes II. king of Persia, about three hundred years after its erection by Constantine. Heraclius recovered the genuine cross; and Modestus, bishop of Jerusalem, rebuilt the church of the Holy Sepulchre. Some time afterward, the calif Omar made himself master of Jerusalem, but he allowed the Christians the free exercise of their religion. About the year 1009, Hequem, or Hakem, who then reigned in Egypt, spread desolation around the tomb of Christ. Some will have it, that this prince's mother, who was a Christian, caused the church to be again rebuilt; while others assert, that the son of the Egyptian calif, at the solicitation of the emperor Argyropilus, permitted the believers to enclose the sacred places with a new structure. But as the Christians of Jerusalem possessed, in Hakem's time, neither the resources nor the skill requisite for the erection of the edifice which now covers Calvary as notwithstanding a very suspicious pasof William of Tyre, we find no indication that the Crusaders ever built any church for the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem; it is probable that the church founded by Constantine has always subsisted in its present form, at least as far as regards the walls sage It is said that Mary, wife of Hakem, and mother of his successor, defrayed the expense of it, and that in this pious undertaking she was assisted by Constantine Monomachus. of the structure. The mere inspection of the architecture of this building would suffice to demonstrate the truth of what I advance. The crusaders having gained possession of Jerusalem the 15th of July 1099, wrested the tomb of Christ from the hands of the Infidels. It remained eighty-eight years in the power of the successors of Godfrey of Bouillon. When Jerusalem again fell under the Mahometan yoke, the Syrians ransomed the church of the Holy Sepulchre with a considerable sum of money, and monks repaired to defend with their prayers a spot entrusted in vain to the arms of kings. Thus, amid a thousand revolutions, the piety of the early Christians preserved a church of which the present age was destined to witness the destruction. The ancient travellers were extremely fortunate: they were not obliged to enter into all these critical disquisitions; in the first place, because they found in their readers that religion which never contends against truth; and secondly, because every mind was convinced that the only way of seeing a country as it is, must be to see it with all its traditions and recollections. It is in fact with the Bible in his hand that a traveller ought to visit the Holy Land. If we are determined to carry with us a spirit of cavil and contradiction, Judea is not worth our going so far to examine it. What should we say to a man who, in traversing Greece and Italy, should think of nothing but contradicting Homer and Virgil? Such, however, is the course adopted by modern travellers; evidently the effect of our vanity, which would excite a high idea of our own abilities, and at the same time fill us with disdain for those of other people. Christian readers will perhaps inquire, what were my feelings on entering this awful place. I really cannot tell. So many reflections rushed at once upon my mind, that I was unable to dwell upon any particular idea. I continued near a half an hour upon my knees in the little chamber of the Holy Sepulchre, with my eyes rivetted on the stone, from which I had not the power to turn them. One of the two religious who accompanied me remained prostrate on the marble by my side, while the other, with the Testament in his hand, read to me by the light of the lamps the passages relating to the sacred tombs. Between each verse he repeated a prayer: Domine Jesu Christe, qui in hora diei vespertina de cruce depositus, in brachiis dulcissima matris tuæ reclinatus fuisti, horaque ultima in hoc sanctissimo monumento corpus tuum exanime contulisti, &c. All I can say is, that when I beheld this triumphant sepulchre, I felt nothing but my own weakness; and that when my guide exclaimed with St. Paul, "O death, where is thy victory! O grave, where is thy sting!" I listened as if death were about to reply that he was conquered, and enchained in this monument. |