The Church of the Holy Sepulchre Archaeological research has demonstrated that this was the site of a Jewish cemetery in an ancient limestone quarry outside the walls of Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’s death. Today a shrine called the edicule surrounds the remains of the ancient tomb.
The Garden Tomb is open to visitors Monday through Saturday between 8:30 – 12:00 and 2:00 – 5:30pm. English tours are available but must be booked in advance.
When the tomb was opened on the night of October 26, 2016 , scientists were surprised by what they found beneath the marble cladding: an older, broken marble slab incised with a cross, resting directly atop the original limestone surface of the “burial bed.”
The Garden Tomb (Hebrew: גן הקבר) is a rock-cut tomb in Jerusalem, which was unearthed in 1867 and is considered by some Protestants to be the site of the burial and resurrection of Jesus . The tomb has been dated by Israeli archaeologist Gabriel Barkay to the 8th–7th centuries BC.
Overview. All four gospels tell how Mary Magdalene, whether alone or accompanied by other women, came to the tomb on the first day of the week following the crucifixion of Jesus and found the body gone.
Its exact location is uncertain, but most scholars prefer either the spot now covered by the Church of the Holy Sepulchre or a hillock called Gordon’s Calvary just north of the Damascus Gate.
The Gospel of Luke describes Jesus ascending to heaven at a location near Bethany. In the Gospel of Matthew, an angel appeared to Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb , telling her that Jesus is not there because he’s been raised from the dead, and instructing her to tell the other followers to go to Galilee, to meet Jesus .