Welcome to

THE

GARDEN TOMB

This Garden has been carefully maintained as a place of Christian worship, witness, and reflection on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah. Many believe this to be the garden in which Jesus of Nazareth was buried and where he rose from the dead.

Since 1894 The Garden Tomb has been owned by a British non-denominational charitable trust. We make no dogmatic or certain claims about the historical authenticity of this site but desire to preserve it as a visual reminder of the Messiah’s sacrifice and victory.

You are welcome to explore the Garden and its spiritual significance. Our staff will be happy to assist you with any questions you might have.

Please begin your tour by turning to the right and following the path towards Skull Hill.

We do not know whether this site was the actual place of the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of Jesus. The Garden certainly fits the details described in the Gospel accounts and it helps many to imagine the wonderful events of the first Easter morning.

"'Do not be afraid,' said the angel to the women, 'for I know that you are looking for Jesus, Who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen.'" (Matthew 28:5-6).

While we can debate the place where this happened, for us there is no dispute that "Jesus Christ was declared with power to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead." (Romans 1:4).

Jesus Himself said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26)

The Garden Tomb (Jerusalem) Association, England;

established in 1893 for the preservation of the Tomb

and Garden outside the city walls of Jerusalem,

believed by many to be the Sepulchre and Garden of

Joseph of Arimathea.

PO Box 19462, Jerusalem, Israel 91193

www.gardentomb.com mail@gardentomb.com

We do not charge for

admission to the Garden.

It is maintained by the

voluntary contributions of

visitors like you.

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A s you stand on the platform at the far end of the Garden you will find yourself overlooking a bus station. To the left you will see a rough cliff and to the right the northern walls of the Old City. This area was part of an ancient stone quarry. According to a local oral tradition the disused quarry was later used by the Jewish authorities as a place of execution by stoning. If this tradition is true, the same site may have subsequently been used by the Romans as a crucifixion site.

Crucifixions were usually carried out by busy roads as a visual deterrent to other potential criminals and insurrectionists. This would have been just such a place adjacent to the main road leading to Damascus. The Bible tells us that they took Jesus out of the city bearing His own cross to "a place of a skull" (Golgotha in Aramaic, Calvary in Latin). There He was crucified, with two robbers, in front of a jeering crowd, while people passing by hurled insults at Him. Note that the crucifixion would not have been on top of the hill (despite popular portrayals of the event) but rather on the roadside.

We cannot be sure exactly where the crucifixion took place, but the precise location is of less importance than the spiritual significance of what really happened. Jesus went willingly to His death on the cross. as part of God's loving plan to bring us forgiveness. The Bible tells us that "He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross" and that "Christ died for our sins, once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God." (1 Peter 2:24; 3:18).

The traditional site for this extraordinary event is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which was established in the early 4th century, at the time of the Emperor Constantine. However, at least since the 18th century some have questioned whether it is the actual site of the gospel events. This alternative location, today known as Skull Hill, was first suggested to be the site of Christ’s crucifixion in 1842 by a German scholar named Otto Thenius. Others followed in his footsteps, one of the most prominent figures being the British General Charles Gordon in 1883. We do not know if these modern theories are correct, but it is interesting to see the resemblance to a human skull in the rock face to your left. The photograph mounted on our platform shows how the image looked during the late 19th century.

The Bible also tells us that "at the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no-one had ever been laid." (John 19:41). That tomb (and presumably also the garden) belonged to Joseph of Arimathea, a secret disciple of Jesus, who was given special permission to bury the body of Jesus in his nearby tomb before the start of the Jewish Sabbath. The discovery of both an ancient tomb and the remains of an ancient agricultural garden so close to Skull Hill conforms well with that description.

Please now walk back into the Garden using the right hand path, and turn left into the small olive grove. You will be standing above one of Jerusalem's larger rain water cisterns holding about 250,000 US gallons (nearly a thousand cubic meters). However, in its current form it dates to Crusader times and it is not clear whether a cistern was

present here in the days of Christ. You can peek into

the cistern through a shaft to get an impression of its depth. Continue through the path in the grove and when you walk down the steps you will notice to your left an ancient winepress indicating the presence of a vineyard here in antiquity, possibly the garden of that rich man, Joseph of Arimathea.

Continue now down to the tomb itself which was unearthed in 1867. Unfortunately, its entrance had been damaged, possibly by an earthquake, and later repaired with stone blocks. Please refrain from photography next to the tomb.

The exact dating of the tomb is disputed, however it is cut out of the solid rock and was not a natural cave (Matthew 27:60) and inside there would have been space for several mourners to stand in the large weeping chamber (Luke 24:1-3, 10). The channel outside the front wall of the tomb, though extensively modified in later centuries, may have originally been used as a track for a large rolling stone (Matthew 27:60).

These details suggest the wealth of a rich man such as Joseph of Arimathea. In addition, the burial place is on the right side of the tomb (Mark 16:5) and would have been visible from the outside (John 20:5).

In later years the tomb was used by Christians in both the Byzantine and Crusader periods. There is a Byzantine cross painted inside the tomb and another cross carved outside on the front wall.

The rainwater cistern

The ancient winepress

The skull-shaped cliff around 1900