Looking out from the walls of Jerusalem’s Old City the famous British general, Gordon of Khartoum, saw the resemblance to a human skull in a nearby rock formation. After he found there an ancient tomb surrounded by a garden below a small hill Charles Gordon became convinced that this was the true Calvary, site of the Crucifixion.
Since that day in 1883 many people believe this may have been the site of Jesus’ Crucifixion and Resurrection. Another possible site is marked by the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
The debate centers around the fact that not only is the original site of Golgotha not known – it only having being said by John’s Gospel to be “night to the city” – but neither does anyone know where the wall of Jerusalem actually stood in those days.
Despite the conclusion of modern archaeologists that the Garden Tomb does date back to the 1st century AD, most Biblical scholars are reluctant to dismiss the traditional site of the Holy Sepulcher as being the place described by the Gospels.
In 1894 the site of what has become known as Gordon’s Calvary was acquired by Garden Tomb Association, formed and headquartered in London “for the preservation of the Tomb and Garden outside the walls of Jerusalem, believed by many to be the Sepulcher and garden of Joseph of Arimathea … that it might be kept sacred as a quiet spot”.
This page is part of the book The Holy Land of Jesus
Follow News from JerusalemShare this page with your friends