THE HOLY SEPULCHER AND CALVARY

TEXTURE: PRINT

HISTORY: Plate 26 from Volume 1 of the small format reprint of Roberts' The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt & Nubia. A view of the Calvary Altar in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, within the Christian Quarter of the Old City in Jerusalem. The Church, one of the most holy sites of Christendom, purports to enclose the sites of Christ's crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. Shared equally between the Byzantine, Latin, Alexandrian, Armenian, and East Syrian Rite, the current Church is the result of almost two millennia of constant use and enlargement. The original church, built by St Helena, mother of Constantine, was constructed on the site following the removal of the pagan Temple of Venus built there by order of the Emperor Hadrian during his enlargement of Roman Jerusalem, Aelia Capitolina. The city's tumultuous history has seen the church fall under the influence of many different religious orders. Since 1767, the Church has been divided evenly between the Roman Catholic and Oriental Orthodox churches. The Calvary Altar stands on the traditional site of Golgotha, the place of Christ's crucifixion. The site, once a small hill built over by the Roman Temple of Venus, was identified by St Helena and incorporated into the basilica that Constantine built there. Beneath the altar of the Chapel of the Crucifixion is the rock of Calvary, a major object of Christian pilgrimage. Roberts' view shows the altar within the wide-vaulted chapel. Roman Catholic clergy are gathered in prayer before the altar, and a veiled woman sits on the steps close to the rock. Behind the altar, the chapel is decorated with a large scene of the crucifixion and numerous ornate lamps hang from the vaulting.

David Roberts RA (24th October 1796 – 25th November 1864) was a Scottish painter. He is especially known for a prolific series of detailed prints of Egypt and the Near East produced during the 1840s from sketches made during long tours of the region (1838-1840). This work, and his large oil paintings of similar subjects, made him a prominent Orientalist painter. He was elected as a Royal Academician in 1841