Church of the Holy Sepulchre Timeline

By the Crusader period, a cistern under the former basilica was rumoured to be where Helena had found the True Cross and began to be venerated as such; there is no evidence of this identification before the 11th century, and archaeology dates the cistern to 11th-century repairs by Monomachos.

Image source: Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Historians agree that the fate of Jerusalem, and thereby the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, was also of concern, if not the immediate goal of papal policy in 1095, contributing to the launch of the First Crusade.

Image source: First Crusade

The rebuilt church site was taken from the Fatimids, who had recently taken it from the Abbasids, by the knights of the First Crusade on 15 July 1099.

Eight 11th- and 12th-century Crusader leaders — Godfrey, Baldwin I, Baldwin II, Fulk, Baldwin III, Amalric, Baldwin IV, and Baldwin V, the first eight rulers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem — were buried in the south transept and inside the Chapel of Adam.

Image source: Kingdom of Jerusalem

The renovations unified the small chapels on the site and were completed during the reign of Queen Melisende in 1149, placing all the holy places under one roof for the first time.

Image source: Melisende of Jerusalem

William of Tyre, chronicler of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, reported on the rebuilding of the church in the mid-12th century, which unified the small chapels on the site.

Image source: William of Tyre

The church was lost to Saladin along with the rest of Jerusalem in 1187, although the treaty established after the Third Crusade allowed Christian pilgrims to continue visiting the site.

Image source: Third Crusade

Frederick II regained the city and the church by treaty in the 13th century while under a ban of excommunication, with the consequence that the holiest church in Christianity was laid under interdict during the last period of Latin control over Jerusalem.

Image source: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor

The tomb of Philip d'Aubigny (died 1236), knight, tutor, and royal councillor to Henry III of England and signer of Magna Carta, is placed in front of the church's two original entrance doors. It is one of the few tombs of crusaders not removed after the Khwarizmian capture of Jerusalem in 1244; a stone marker was placed on it in 1925, sheltered by a wooden trapdoor.

Image source: Philip d'Aubigny

Both city and church were captured by the Khwarezmians and the Ayyubids in 1244. The royal tombs were looted during the sack but probably remained mostly intact until the fire of 1808; they may have been destroyed then or during renovations of 1809–1810.

Image source: Siege of Jerusalem (1244)

In the 13th century, the tops of the columns of the church were removed and sent to Mecca by the Khwarezmids.

The tradition that the Stone of Unction marks where Jesus's body was prepared for burial is only attested since the Crusader era, notably by the Italian Dominican pilgrim Riccoldo da Monte di Croce in 1288. The present stone was added in the 1810 reconstruction.

After retaking Jerusalem from the Crusaders in 1187, Saladin entrusted the Joudeh family with custody of the keys to the church, an iron key 30 centimetres long; the Nuseibehs either became or remained the doorkeepers.

Image source: Nusaybah family

In 1192, Saladin assigned door-keeping responsibilities to the Muslim Nusaybah family, who according to their own lore had opened the door since the seventh century, though documents only mention their role since the time of Saladin.

There was certainly a recognisable 'Nestorian' (Church of the East) presence at the Holy Sepulchre from 1348 through 1575, as contemporary Franciscan accounts indicate.

Image source: Church of the East

The Franciscan friars renovated the church in 1555, as it had been neglected despite increased numbers of pilgrims. Possibly to prevent pilgrims removing bits of rock as souvenirs, marble cladding was placed on the tomb around this time. Afterward, control oscillated between Franciscans and Orthodox depending on who could obtain a favourable firman, often through bribery.

Image source: Custody of the Holy Land

There was no agreement about control of the church, although the question was discussed at the negotiations for the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699.

Image source: Treaty of Karlowitz

During Holy Week of 1757, Orthodox Christians reportedly took over some of the Franciscan-controlled church. An Ottoman decree of 1757 helped establish a status quo upholding the state of affairs at various Holy Land sites, which applies to the Holy Sepulchre to this day.

Image source: Status Quo (Jerusalem and Bethlehem)

The façade and entrance have undergone significant changes since their construction in the 12th century. For example, when a fire broke out in 1840, dozens of pilgrims were trampled to death.

Sultan Abdülmecid I's firman solidified the existing territorial division among the communities, requiring consensus to make even minor changes and pinning down permanent statutes of property and custodial roles. In the 19th century the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Syriac Orthodox acquired lesser responsibilities.

By the British Mandate era, the red limestone cladding applied by Komnenos had deteriorated badly; from 1947 until restoration work in 2016–17, it was held in place with exterior scaffolding of iron girders installed by the British authorities.

In 1948, Jerusalem was divided between Israel and Jordan, and the Old City, where the church is located, became part of Jordan.

Israeli forces captured East Jerusalem in the Six-Day War of 1967, and that area, including the church, has remained under Israeli control ever since.

Image source: Six-Day War

During restoration works and excavations inside the building and under the nearby Muristan bazaar, it was found that the area was originally a quarry from which white meleke limestone was struck. East of the Chapel of Saint Helena, excavators found a fourth-century drawing of a Roman pilgrim ship, walls supporting Hadrian's second-century temple, and a higher wall supporting Constantine's basilica.

The dome was restored again in 1994–97 as part of extensive modern renovations ongoing since 1959. Since 1996, the main dome has been topped by the monumental Golgotha Crucifix consecrated by Greek Patriarch Diodoros I of Jerusalem.

On Sunday, 9 November 2008, a clash erupted between Armenian and Greek monks during celebrations for the Feast of the Cross, part of recurring disputes despite the Status Quo, including earlier incidents in 1902, 2002, 2004, and Palm Sunday April 2008.

A full restoration of the Aedicule was agreed upon and executed from May 2016 to March 2017, an example of concord between the church custodians.

For the first time since at least 1555, on 26 October 2016, marble cladding protecting the supposed burial bed of Jesus was removed, revealing an older, partially broken slab with a Crusader-style cross carved into it. Mortar from just above the burial bed was dated to the mid-fourth century.

In February 2018, the church was closed in protest following a tax dispute over €152,000,000 of uncollected taxes on church properties, and against a legislative proposal to expropriate church lands sold to private companies since 2010. The affair did not cover church buildings or religious facilities, which are exempt by law.

During church renovations in 2022, a stone slab covered in modern graffiti was moved from a wall, revealing Cosmatesque-style decoration on one face.

After Christian denominations protested a 2019 Supreme Court decision upholding the sale of three properties by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate to Ateret Cohanim, the Supreme Court upheld the sale in June 2022, ending the legal battle.

Image source: Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem