The Floor of the Holy Sepulcher Will Reveal Its Mysteries

The involvement of the two Italian organizations is part of an agreement signed between the three main Christian communities in the Holy Land who are guardians of the Basilica and responsible for the status quo in the Holy Sepulcher.

On the basis of this agreement, the Custody of the Holy Land signed a collaboration agreement last October with the Venaria Reale foundation and the Department of Antiquities of the University of La Sapienza in Rome.

The two Italian institutes have undertaken to carry out a historical and archaeological study of the floor of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulcher—some parts of which date from the Constantinian period in the 4th century—in order to lay the foundations for a later restoration that the outrages of the years have made it absolutely necessary.

Starting in February 2020, the first stage of this work consists of a careful mapping of the floor, using a laser to scan the entire paved area of the basilica, which will allow it to be worked on stone by stone thanks to digital technology.

Interviewed by the Christian Media Center, the Palestinian architect Osama Hamdam of the al-Quds University in Jerusalem, explained how it will then be necessary to analyze the completed cartography so as to better evaluate “the state of conservation, or rather the level of degradation that every stone and every slab of this floor has suffered.”

The work that has just begun should also make it possible to know, according to the researcher, “the type of materials used to design the floor of the basilica, as well as its origin.”