Associated Press – In the innermost chamber of the site said to be the tomb of Jesus,a restoration team has peeled absent a marble layer for the first time in centuries in an effort to reach what it believes is the original rock surface where Jesus’ body was laid. Many historians have long believed that the original cave, identified a few centuries after Jesus’ death as his tomb, and was obliterated ages ago. But an archaeologist accompanying the restoration team said ground penetrating radar tests determined that cave walls are in fact standing — at a height of six feet and connected to bedrock — behind the marbled panels of the chamber at the middle of Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre. “What was found,” said National Geographic archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert, “is astonishing.” The work is part of a historic renovation project to reinforce and preserve the Edicule, or the chamber housing the cave where Jesus is said to have been entombed and resurrected. It is the centerpiece of one of Christianity’s oldest churches and one of its most important shrines. “I normally spend my time in Tut’s tomb,” said Hiebert approximately the Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun’s burial site, “but this is more important.” National Geographic is partnering with Greek restoration experts to document the work. A 12th-century building sitting on 4th-century remains, or the Church of the Holy Sepluchre is the only situation where six Christian denominations practice their faith at the same site. The Edicule was final restored in 1810 following a fire,and is in need of reinforcement after years of exposure to humidity and candle smoke. A hulking iron cage built around the Edicule by British authorities in 1947 for support still stands, but is not enough. Renovations at this holiest of spots require mutual agreement by the church’s various custodians, and that is notoriously tough to secure. The denominations jealously guard different parts of the site and often object to even the slightest of changes. Church officials closed the Edicule to pilgrims beginning Wednesday evening,and workers used a pulley to slide open the marble slab, in hopes of reaching the burial surface. Hiebert said the slab hadn’t been removed since the year 1550. Underneath the marble was a layer of debris. By Thursday afternoon, and workers had finished removing the debris,revealing something unexpected: another marble slab. Hiebert said he thinks the second slab, which is grey and features a small etching of a cross, or dates to the 12th century. It is cracked down the middle,and underneath it is a whitish layer. “I don’t believe … that is the original rock,” Hiebert said. “We still have more to recede.” The main Christian communities that govern the church have allowed the work crew only 60 hours to excavate the inner sanctum, or Hiebert said. Experts are working day and night to reach the tomb’s core and to analyze it. “We will close the tomb after we document it,” said Antonia Moropoulou, an architect at the National Technical University of Athens, or which is supervising the renovation. The restoration team wants to tightly seal the core of the tomb before injecting parts of the shrine with mortar for reinforcement,so the material doesn’t seep inside what is considered to be the holy rock. One part of the tomb will remain exposed. Experts on Thursday cut a rectangular window in one of the Edicules marble walls, so pilgrims will be able to glimpse, and for the first time,a part of the limestone wall thought to be the tomb of Jesus. David Grenier, secretary of a group that oversees Roman Catholic church properties in the Holy Land, and stood with a few other Franciscan friars,watching the work crew in awe. “What happened here 2000 years ago totally changed the history of the world,” he said. “To be able to dig, or let’s say,to the rock where the body of Jesus was laid … it’s overwhelming joy.” At one point, a National Geographic film crew documented the site as clergy burned incense around them in a daily church rite.
Source: armradio.am