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[[Image:Holy Sepulchre exterior.jpg|right|thumb|400px|Exterior of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre]]
The '''Church of the Holy Sepulchre''', called '''Church of the Resurrection''' (''Anastasis'') by Eastern Christians, is a Christian church now within the walled Old City of Jerusalem. The ground the church rests on is venerated by many Christians as [[Golgotha]], the Hill of Calvary where the [[New Testament]] records that Jesus Christ was crucified. It also contains the place where Jesus was buried (the sepulchre). The church has been an important [[pilgrimage]] destination since the 4th century, and the portions of it administered by the Orthodox are in the care of the [[Church of Jerusalem]].The Church commemorates the founding of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre on [[September 13]].
==History==
The initial building was founded by [[Constantine the Great]] in 335, after he had removed a pagan temple on the site that was possibly the Temple of Aphrodite built by Hadrian. Constantine had sent his mother St. [[Helen]] to find the site; during excavations she is said to have discovered the [[True Cross]]. The church was built around the excavated hill of the Crucifixion, and was actually three connected churches built over the three different holy sites, including a great basilica (the ''Martyrium'' visited by the nun [[Egeria]] in the 380s), an enclosed colonnaded atrium (the ''Triportico'') built around the traditional Rock of Calvary, and a rotunda, called the ''Anastasis'' ("Resurrection"), which contained the remains of the cave that St. Helen and St. [[Macarius of Jerusalem|Macarius, Patriarch of Jerusalem]], had identified with the burial site of Jesus. The surrounding rock was cut away, and the Tomb was encased in a structure called the ''Edicule'' (from the Latin ''aediculum'', small building) in the center of the rotunda. The dome of the rotunda was completed by the end of the 4th century.
*[http://www.holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,19,321 Photos of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre]
*[http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/Holy_Land/Holy_Sepulchre_Church/index.shtml Holy Sepulchre Church Photos] - from Orthodoxphotos.com
*[http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsLife.asp?FSID=102593 Commemoration of the Founding of the Church of the Resurrection (Holy Sepulchre) at Jerusalem][[Category:Churches]]- [[OCA]] website
