The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called Holy Sepulchre, is a church built on the traditional site of Jesus’ Crucifixion and burial. According to the Bible (John 19:41–42), his tomb was close to the place of the Crucifixion, and so the church was planned to enclose the site of both the cross and the tomb.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre lies in the northwest quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. Constantine the Great first built a church on the site. It was dedicated about 336 CE, burned by the Persians in 614, restored by Modestus (the abbot of the monastery of Theodosius, 616–626), destroyed by the caliph al-Ḥākim bi-Amr Allāh about 1009, and restored by the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachus. In the 12th century, the Crusaders carried out a general rebuilding of the church. Since that time, frequent repair, restoration, and remodelling have been necessary. The present church dates mainly from 1810.