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GreekReporter.comGreek NewsArchaeologyAfter 200 Years Restoration Work Finally Begins on Jesus' Tomb in Jerusalem

After 200 Years Restoration Work Finally Begins on Jesus’ Tomb in Jerusalem

tomb of christ 3Finally after years of disputes the long-awaited conservation and restoration project on Jesus’ Tomb where he was buried before his resurrection has begun.

On Tuesday, the World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced that Mica Ertegun, the widow of Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun supplied the project with a 1.3 million dollars philanthropic donation that will allow work to begin on the inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s old city.

There are three main Christian groups that are in charge of maintaining the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. These communities are the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Roman Catholic.

tomb of christ 2The project will see the so-called Edicule repaired, which is a shrine from the 19th century that surrounds the Tomb of Christ and is where Jesus is said to have been buried before his resurrection.

This will be the first restoration work done on the tomb in over 200 years.

The restoration of the Edicule of the tomb is being overseen by a team of Greek conservationists from the National Technical University of Athens, who have works as notable as the Acropolis in their portfolio of prior projects.

“This spring, the Greek team came in and formulated a conservation plan, and a few weeks ago the initial scaffolding was built and an on-site lab constructed. Now the physical intervention is about to start,” Lisa Ackerman, the executive vice-president of the WMF, told the guardian.com.

The chapel above the tomb is currently in danger of collapse. It has been rebuilt four times in the past, the last time in 1810 after being damaged by a fire in 1808. At the moment mere iron girders put into place by the British government in 1947 are all that keep the structure together.

tomb of christ 1In all the project is budgeted at some 4 millions dollars.

Even though the project is expected to last at least a year, the holy site will remain open to pilgrims and tourists during this time.

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