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On the hill known as Golgotha.
Believed to be where the site of the,
crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
Construction first began in 326 by the Emperor Constantine.
When the Roman buildings were demolished,
a series of rock-cut tombs was discovered.
One of the tombs was identified as that of Joseph of Armithea.
Little remains of the original Byzantine structure which was
burned and looted by the Persians in 614,
partially rebuilt by the Patriarch Modestos,
damaged by earthquake in 808,
and destroyed in 1009 by order of the Fatamid Caliph al-Hakim.
A portion was rebuilt again by the
Byzantine Emperor Constantine Monomachus in 1048
Most of the present building,
is the result of 12th-century Crusader reconstruction.
Following an earthquake in 1927,
The present building encompasses half the area
of the original Byzantine church.
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