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ROBERT OUSTERHOUT
Universityof Illinoisat Urbana-Champaign
he specificity of place ... is what gives rise A holy site, then, was efficacious because it was perma-
to and what is perpetuated in memorial," nent and unchanging; it provided a direct link between the rit-
states Jonathan Z. Smith in his provocative ual of veneration and the historical event it commemorated.
study of ritual theory.1 Nowhere was this more true than in The architectural setting of the holy site was another matter.
medieval Jerusalem, where history, ritual, and loca sancta-- Although novelty may not have been possible in terms of the
holy sites-merged in the experience of the faithful (Fig- locations or distinctive natural features of the locasancta,their
ure 1). In Jerusalem, according to Smith, "story, ritual, and architectural frames display remarkable resilience, as monu-
place could be one."2 This is a constant theme in the mental churches were constructed, embellished, and recon-
accounts of early Christian visitors to Jerusalem. For exam- structed. At these locations, our simplistic modernist
ple, St. Jerome told of the efficacy of worship within the explanation that "form follows function" proves to be woefully
holy places, where the events commemorated could be inadequate. For architecture did not simply house sites and rit-
made spiritually present through ritualized veneration: uals, it glorified and magnified them, it authorized and vali-
"Whenever we enter [the Tomb of the Lord]," he wrote, dated them, and it ultimately became part and parcel of the
"we see the Savior lying in the shroud. And lingering a lit- ritual experience. This is certainly true of the church of the
tle we see again the angel sitting at his feet and the hand- Holy Sepulchre, for which pilgrims' souvenirs provide ample
kerchief wound up at his head."3 Similarly, when Jerome's visual testimony. As has been frequently noted, the late-sixth-
friend Paula came before the relic of the True Cross at century ampullae, or pilgrims' flasks, from the Holy Sepulchre
Golgotha, "she fell down and worshipped ... as if she could were often adorned with images anachronistically depicting
see the Lord hanging on it."4 Because the exact locations of the Resurrection of Christ (Figure 2): the holy women carry
the Crucifixion, Entombment, and Resurrection were fixed censers-liturgical objects-and encounter the angel not at the
and immutable, set precisely where the sacred events had rock-cut tomb but at the embellished aedicula beneath the
occurred, the faithful could experience there the "real pres- dome of the Anastasis Rotunda-that is, at the holy site as it
ence"of holy persons and events; this belief gave the loca appeared at the time the ampulla was created.7The historical
sancta power in the Christian imagination. The specificity event and its ritual reenactment are conflated, as are the holy
of place is emphasized in pilgrimage literature as a valida- site and its (later) architectural setting. To be sure, place
tion of the scripture.5 As Jerome relates, following the remained a constant, but by the fourth century the setting had
psalm, it is the Christian obligation to worship "where his been utterly transformed. The site may have been fixed and
feet have stood."6 immutable, but its architectural frame was not.
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Figure 4 Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem. Generalview of the complex from the southeast
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on two levels. Along the eastern perimeter, the chapels nessed. Other textualreferencesarefew and similarlyunin-
markedevents from the Passionof Christ,includingthe so- structive.I7The history of this campaignhas been analyzed
called Prison of Christ, the Flagellation, the Crown of by JaroslavFolda and may be outlined as follows. It began
Thorns, the Division of the Garments,and, in an elevated with the erection of the Cloister of the Canons, between
position, the Chapelof Calvary,above the Chapelof Adam. about 1114 and 1120, to the east of the Byzantinecomplex,
Stairsled to a grotto beneath the ruins of the basilica,iden- on the site of the Constantinian basilica. This phase also
tified as the site of the Invention of the Cross. There were included the subterraneanChapel of St. Helena-itself an
also additional chapels on the gallery level, constructed expansion of the Byzantine Crypt of the Invention of the
above the Chapel of Calvary. Cross;the vaultingof the chapel rests below the gradelevel
In the third principalphase, following the conquest of of the cloister, although its dome projects into the open
Jerusalemat the completion of the First Crusadein 1099, courtyard."8It is not clear if a master plan had been devel-
the complexwas given a more unified appearance,in accor- oped at this point, and subsequent work apparentlypro-
dancewith western Europeanstandards,incorporatingele- ceeded slowly. The Anastasis Rotunda was left in its
ments associated with western European pilgrimage eleventh-century,Byzantineform,with much of the Byzan-
architecture(Figure 9).15 As with its predecessor,the cru- tine decorationstill in place. The Byzantinecourtyardand
saders' building project seems to have been motivated by its subsidiarychapels were replaced by a domed transept
the limited scale of the existing structure.William of Tyre and a Romanesquepilgrimage choir. The relics and dedi-
noted that at the time of the First Crusade,"therewas only cations of the Byzantine chapels eliminated in the recon-
a rathersmall chapel here, but after the Christians,assisted structionwere assumedby the three radiatingchapels.The
by divine mercy,had seized Jerusalemwith a strong hand, Chapel of Calvarywas expandedbut contained within the
this building seemed to them too small. Accordingly,they eastern portions of the south transept.The choir was ded-
enlargedthe originalchurchand addedto it a new building icated in 1149 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversaryof the
of massive and lofty construction, which enclosed the old conquest of Jerusalem. It is not known exactly when the
church and in marvelouswise included within its precincts construction of the crusaderchoir began. Although work
the holy places."'16 may have commencedin the 1130s, Folda placesthe bulk of
The chronology of the crusaders'construction is not the building activity in 1140-49; it was certainlynot fully
entirely clear. William, for example, seems to have been completed at the time of the dedication.19 John of
writing after the fact about events he might not have wit- Wiirzburg, writing in about 1170-74, refers to "this new
THE STONES OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE 9
church," emphasizing the newness and spaciousness of the the clarityof its chief competitorin the city, the Umayyad
crusaders' additions: "The new church, a new addition, con- Dome of the Rock (see Figure 1). Certainlythe basic plan-
tains a very wide Priests' Choir and a very long sanctu- ning concepts evident in the three different phases of the
ary. ... Outside this sanctuary of the altar and inside the Holy Sepulchre'sconstructionstand in starkopposition to
wall of the exterior of the building, there is a wide space, each other. The centralizeddesign of the Early Christian
and round it there is, in this new building (just as in the rotunda,for example,was subvertedby the addition of the
monument that was there before) a wide space suitable for Byzantineapse and sanctuary;moreover,the orientationof
a procession."20 To connect the transept to the Anastasis the complexwas shifted from west to east, and the unity of
Rotunda, the Byzantine apse was removed and the portals to focus was fragmentedwith the addition of the numerous
either side were enlarged. For the first time, all the Holy subsidiarychapels. In turn, the private devotional charac-
Sites were housed under one roof, with the monumental ter of the Byzantinephase was exploded by the introduc-
entrance at the south transept (Figure 10; see Figures 4, 9). tion of the pilgrimage choir, which was designed to
Previous studies of the crusader church have sought to accommodate large congregations of worshippers.Yet as
identify the masons responsible for the construction or the each phase incorporatedlarge elements of its predecessor,
intended audience for specific forms and signature details. the inherent contradictionsin planning principlesbecame
Recent scholarship has favored an ecumenical explanation permanentaspectsof the design. The final form is a direc-
for the construction and its interpretation, noting elements tionally ambivalentpilgrimage church, with a rotunda in
that could be attributed to both indigenous and European the place of the nave, enveloped by a hodgepodge of sub-
workforces and, in turn, understood by audiences from sev- sidiaryspaces.There is an old joke that a camel is a horse
eral different cultures.21While these investigations are use- designed by committee. In architecturalterms, the Holy
ful for placing the building within a broad cultural context, Sepulchreis a camel.
many of the decisions that ultimately affected the design In many cases, the irregularitiesare indicators of the
may be clarified by a close reading of the construction's fab- complexhistoricaldevelopmentof the building,but within
ric. Internal information, still preserved in situ, may pro- the crusaders'reconstruction alone there is evidence for
vide some explanation for its complexity. numerous subphasesand design changes.The form of the
The crusader building is replete with disquieting dis- building appearsto have been rethought on several occa-
junctions-so much so that Robert Venturi included its plan sions, and new ideas were introducedlong after construc-
as an illustration in his seminal book Complexityand Con- tion had begun. For example,several changes are evident
tradictionin Architecture.22It hardly stands comparison with at the level of the high vaults.A truncated,blockedwindow
allowed.38Althoughit was apparentlynot possibleto recon- transeptwas built within the outer walls of the Byzantine
struct the Constantinianbasilica in the eleventh century, courtyard,significant elements of which were left in situ.
the courtyardwas rebuilt, following the exact plan of the Only the curvatureof the crusaderchevet and the thickened
original. The form of the Arches of the Virgin thus repli- wall of the south transeptportalprojectedbeyond the east-
catedthe fourth-centuryportico,utilizingavailablebuilding ern limit of the Byzantinecourtyard(Figure 19; see Figure
materials.The mismatchedspoliamay also derive from the 9). The crusaders'new design thus interjected the most
earlierconstructionphases,representingwhat survivedthe prominentelements of a Romanesquepilgrimagechurch-
destructionof 1009. the chevet and the monumentalentrance-into the preex-
The same process of reuse must have occurredin the isting frameworkof the complex,with minimalintervention
twelfth century.Indeed, the crusaders'building is as inter- elsewhere.Even elements at the uppermostlevels were left
esting for what they did notreconstructas for what they did. in place: the gallery above the Arches of the Virgin, for
For example,the crusadersopened the fagadeof the Byzan- example,retainsits Byzantinefloor and large portions of its
tine rotundato their new transept,addingslightly pointed north wall, piercedby a series of windows,which were par-
arches in the rotunda'seast fagade.But they left the rem- tially rebuilt by the crusaders.39In the modification,piers
nants of the Byzantine arcades unmodified above and and columns topped by Constantiniancapitalswere added
aroundthem, and this causedsome difficultyin connecting againstthe existingwall to supportthe new crusadervaults.
the older and newer components, requiringvery compli- The positions of the windows determinedthose of the sup-
cated and irregulargroin vaults (Figure 18). The resulting ports. As in the connection to the rotunda faqadeon the
vaults are unique in medieval architecture,with half of a groundfloor, the differencein rhythmbetween the Byzan-
quadripartitegroin vaultmergedwith a series of half-groin tine wall and the structuralsystem of the crusadertransept
vaults.This vault would have been as difficultto construct requireda very irregularseries of groin vaults to serve as a
as it is to describe.It would havebeen considerablyeasierto bridge (Figure 20).
bridge the connection by removing the older elements of In additionto the galleryabove the Arches of the Vir-
the rotundafagadeand thus allowinga standardquadripar- gin, severalsmallchapelsfrom the eleventhcentury,includ-
tite vault,but this wasnot done, andthe vestigesof the older ing a distinctivedomed chapel,were left on the upper level
building are clearlyvisible. above Calvary,at the southeastcorner of the complex (see
More important,the limits of the crusaderrebuilding Figures 7, 8, 19).40 As on the north side, where new ele-
were determined by preexisting walls, notably the lateral ments were added,the height of the crusaders'galleryhad
walls of eleventh-century complex-which were in turn to conformto the level of the Byzantinegallery.41Thus not
definedby their EarlyChristianpredecessors.The crusader only the plan but also the proportions of the crusader
THE STONES OF THE HOLY SEPULCHRE 15
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churchwere determinedto a large extentby the preexisting of the marble revetment is still visible. Structuralstability
building. The numerous compromisesin the twelfth-cen- may have been challengedin order to preserveas much as
tury design indicate that a sense of obligation toward the possible of the old walls.
older componentsultimatelyoutweighedaestheticand even Another telling detail is the asymmetryof the south
structuralconcerns. For instance, the domed chapel, visi- fagade (Figure 22; see Figure 10). The belfry to the west
ble on the exterior,must have been a bit at odds aestheti- and the Chapel of the Franksto the east representmodifi-
callywith the crusaderfagade(see Figure4).42Perhapsmore cations to the twelfth-centurybuilding project, noted ear-
important,structurallysupportingit and the adjacentele- lier. But the setback immediately to the right of the twin
vated chapels must have been a bit problematicwhen the portalsis more difficultto explain.It was a partof the orig-
Chapel of Calvary,just beneaththem, was reorganizedand inal crusader design for the fagade, thickening the wall
expandedin the twelfthcentury(compareFigures9, 19). In aroundthe main entranceportals.The sculpturaldecora-
the same expansion,new pierswere addedto the Byzantine tion of the fagadetakes the setbackinto consideration,and
Chapel of Adam on the ground floor. In this case, new the cornicesextendaroundthe corner.No similarfeatureis
structuralelementswere built directlyagainstthe older sup- evidenton the opposite side of the portals,where the bands
ports;however,the original revetmentsand cornices were of sculpturaldecorationsimplystop beforethe projectionof
left in place, so the two phases could not be properly the belfry.In fact, it is not entirelyclearhow the fagadewas
bonded together (Figure 21). The stonework of the new meant to be resolved on the left side before the belfry was
piers was carefullynotched to fit over the existing cornice, added. On the right side, however, the setback was not
andwithin the joint between the two phases,the rough end bonded to the adjacentwall in its lower courses,where the
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of the tree from which the wood of the True Cross was cut, ribbed-groin vaults in the crusader church, but few visitors
would have provided a symbolically significant parallel to failed to notice the church's antiquity. Third, the architec-
the site of the discovery of the True Cross by St. Helena. tural additions to the holy site became inextricable elements
The selection of this particular building type for the chapel of the experience and meaning of the place. The old stones
may thus have had a special meaning. Moreover, the chapel both testify to the authenticity of the site and are the site,
reverberates with the interaction of old and new, a phe- while the new architectural framework provided a more
nomenon that goes far beyond the expansion of an older immediate visual validation to the biblical events.
crypt and the incorporation of spolia, discussed earlier. The To conclude, the idea that a historical building could
lateral walls of the chapel are formed by the foundation be viewed as a sacred relic is reinforced by the record of the
walls of the destroyed Constantinian basilica; the chapel is reconstruction of the Abbey Church of St.-Denis, outside
literally enveloped in them. The dome of the chapel is posi- Paris, by Abbot Suger, ca. 1130-44.63 The abbey church
tioned at almost the exact center of the basilica, the remains offers a useful, contemporaneous comparison to the cru-
of which were subsequently covered by the crusader clois- saders' reconstruction of the Holy Sepulchre. In both, a
ter. The setting of the chapel in such an exacting relation- venerated older building housing a sacred tomb was aug-
ship to the older foundations suggests the significance they mented by new additions that included a chevet and a mon-
were accorded and the dramatic impact they had on the umental entrance. Suger stated explicitly that his work
design of the crusader additions. represented the "completion" of the older monument,
What does all of this mean for our understanding of which was substantially preserved because the building was
the architecture of the Holy Sepulchre? First, the church believed to have been dedicated by Christ Himself. Suger's
not only housed the most important sites in Christendom, intention was to "respect the very stones, sacred as they are,
but in the Middle Ages the very fabric of the building came as if they were relics" (ipsis sacratis lapidibus tanquam
to be regarded as a sacred relic. Second, the sanctity of the reliquiis deferremus), as he wrote in his well-known account
architecture ultimately compromised the unity of design in of the rebuilding.64
both the eleventh- and twelfth-century rebuildings. The As at St.-Denis, architectural decisions at the Holy
masons were obliged to balance aesthetic and structural Sepulchre were guided to a large extent by the desire to
decisions with spiritual concerns: the venerable antiquity, "respect the very stones" of the older building, resulting in
or more properly, the venerable antiquities of the building both aesthetic and structural compromises in the final
constituted a more potent expressive force than the latest design. Although the comparison with St.-Denis may seem
imported architectural features. No medieval pilgrim ever particularly apt, unfortunately the crusader rebuilding of
commented on the early and very au courantappearance of the Holy Sepulchre lacked an Abbot Suger. The stones may
simplyin the specificityof place,but also in its architecture, ed. (Paris, 1844-80), vol. 22, 426.
old andnew. Perhapswe must reconsiderthe propositionof 4. Jerome, Ep. 108.9, Patrologia 22, 884.
5. This theme is developed in several essays included in Robert Ousterhout,
JonathanZ. Smith thatin Jerusalem,"story,ritual,and place
ed., TheBlessings ofPilgrimage(Urbana,1990),in particularby SabineMac-
could be one."66For by the twelfthcentury,the idea of place
Cormack,"Loca Sancta:The Organizationof SacredTopographyin Late
extended beyond the Tomb to include its architecturalset- Antiquity,"7-40.
ting, just as the sacred story had expandedbeyond that of 6. Jerome, Ep. 46.7, Patrologia22, 488; as noted by MacCormack,"Loca
Christ to include Constantineand the tumultuousmedieval Sancta,"21.
7. GaryVikan,ByzantinePilgrimageArt (Washington,D.C., 1982), 20.
history of Jerusalem. Ritual in turn responded to these 8. Rowena Loverance, Byzantium(Cambridge,Mass., 1988), fig. 71. For
expandedmeanings of place and story. Medieval pilgrims' similar examples,see Lieselotte Koetzsche, "ZweiJerusalemerPilgeram-
texts, notably that of John of Wiirzburg, mix together the pullen aus der Kreuzfaherezeit,"Zeitschriftfiir Kunstgeschichte 51 (1988),
biblical accounts of Christ's Passion, its liturgical com- 13 ff.;JaroslavFolda, TheArt of the Crusaders in theHolyLand1098-1187
memoration, architecturaldescriptions,verses of the Old (Cambridge,England, 1995), 294-97.
9. For the legislationconcerningthe building,see AlbertRock, OFM, The
Testament, stories of the activities of Constantine and
StatusQuoin theHolyPlaces(Jerusalem,1989);for a brief surveyof its pres-
Helena and the capture and liberation of Jerusalem,
ent state,see GrevilleS. P. Freeman-Grenville,TheBasilicaoftheHolySepul-
importedrelics and their locations,dedicationsof altars,and chrein Jerusalem(Jerusalem,1994).
the texts of inscriptionsdecoratingthe building.They also 10. The standardmonograph on the city remains Hubert Vincent and
refer to the crusaders'reconsecrationand introduction of FElix-MarieAbel,Jirusalemnouvelle,vol. 2 (Paris,1914).The historyof the
new ceremonies.67Story,ritual,and place were still inextri- building is summarizedin Robert Ousterhout, "Rebuildingthe Temple:
ConstantineMonomachusandthe Holy Sepulchre,"JSAH 48 (Mar.1989),
cably linked, but the meaning of each had become consid- 66-78. Virgilio C. Corbo, II Santo Sepolcrodi Gerusalemme,3 vols.
erablymore complex than it had been in the first, or in the (Jerusalem,1981),is indispensibleand has supersededall previouspublica-
fourth, century. tions on the subject,butwithout providinga full analysisof the architectural
The medievaldesireto "respectthe very stones, sacred remains.A less satisfactoryaccount,with imaginativereconstructiondraw-
as they are, as if they were relics" seems to have been ings, is providedby CharlesCouasnon, The Churchof theHolySepulchrein
ignored in the twentieth-century restoration of the Holy Jerusalem(London, 1974). Shimon Gibson and Joan Taylor,Beneaththe
Churchof the Holy Sepulchre(London, 1994), have produced important
Sepulchre. Damaged architecturalcomponents were sim- observations on the site of the Constantinian building, although their
ply removedand replacedwith blandreplicas.In contrastto attemptsat reconstructionareless useful.MartinBiddle, TheTombof Christ
the Middle Ages, when the stones of the Holy Sepulchre (Sutton, 1999), offers a useful analysisof the building'shistorywhile focus-
were valuedand eitherreusedin the laterrebuildingsor dis- ing on the presentcondition of the tomb aedicula.In general,more atten-