In 2016 researchers opened the shrine over Christianity's most contested tomb for the first time in centuries, and found the original rock surface still there underneath.
Opening the Edicule
The Edicule, the small shrine structure built over the traditional site of Christ's tomb, underwent major restoration in 2016 led by a team from the National Technical University of Athens. During the work, researchers temporarily opened the burial bed and confirmed the presence of the original limestone surface beneath layers of later marble cladding, the first time in living memory that the underlying rock had been directly examined and documented.
Six communities, unevenly divided rights
Custody of different parts of the church is divided among the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Armenian Apostolic churches, which hold the largest shares, alongside smaller recognised rights held by the Coptic, Syriac Orthodox and Ethiopian Orthodox churches, an arrangement of overlapping and sometimes contested jurisdiction over specific chapels, altars and even individual paving stones within the same building.
As this entry's companion article covers
The Status Quo agreement governing the building, and the immovable ladder left in place on a window ledge since at least the eighteenth century as a visible symbol of that arrangement's rigidity, are addressed directly in this entry's companion article rather than repeated here.