The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also known as the Tomb of Christ, is one of the most holy of holy sites in the world. It is recognized by most religions, though argued over, as the site where Jesus was crucified and buried.
It is "owned" by four religions which maintain the structure as best they can, world economics and religious fanatics making one group more wealthy and powerful than another over time. The current curators are the Coptics, Latin (Catholic), Greek Orthodox, and Armenian.
It is also a fascinating structure. It is actually many buildings all brought together under one roof. And it has not always been "this" building but rebuilt many times.
Here is just a very brief look at the history of the building. One of the best resources for information about the Sepulchre or Tomb itself comes from The Tomb of Christ by Martin Biddle
According to the current day calendar, Jesus was executed outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem in 30 or 33 AD/CE. When the city expanded about 10 years later, this area was supposedly incorporated into the walls of what eventually became the Old City of Jerusalem as we know it today. In order to deal with the expansion of the city, the Romans brought in massive piles of rubble to fill in and level off the rocky hills that made up the city's landscape, creating massive marketplaces and roads. Still, over time the area, called Golgotha, "the place of crucifixion", was vaguely remembered inside of the city. According to Biddle:
It served as a landmark for excavations which discovered several rock-cut tombs under the rubble. For reasons never stated, one of these tombs was immediately hailed as the Tomb of Christ. The emperor Constantine ordered that Golgotha and the tomb should be preserved and embellished, and that a great church should be erected beside them. This basilica, known as the Martyrion, "The Testimony" or "The Witness", was dedicated on 17 September 335 inside the walls of the Roman veteran colony of Aelia Capitolina, soon again to be known by the ancient name of Jerusalem.
Another good, but old book, on the Old City of Jerusalem is Baedeker's Jerusalem and Surrounds from 1876
Even though this guidebook comes from 1876, and Jerusalem has changed hands at least four times in the following 120 years, a lot has changed and yet so much has stayed the same. This antique guidebook helped us learn even more about the life, history, culture, and reasons behind what makes Jerusalem one of the most fascinating and unusual cities in the world.
Baedeker's thoughts on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are fascinating, digging deep into the past, trying to separate fact from fiction even then.
The tradition [of the Sepulchre] itself is unsatisfactory. There is no evidence that the spot was revered, or even known, in the early centuries of the Christian era. Old authors do not agree as to the kind of building erected by Hadrian on the place called Golgotha, some asserting that it was a temple of Venus, others a temple of Jupiter. Moreover, the whole story of finding the holy spot in the reign of Constantine, with its alleged miracles and other circumstances, affords a very strong probability that no tradition on the subject was then in existence. On the other hand it is natural, that, when Christianity had become the Roman state religion, inquiry should have been made regarding the site of the Sepulchre of Christ.Bishop Eusebius (born at Caesarea about 264), the earliest historian who gives us information on the subject, records that during the excavations in the reign of Constantine, the sacred grotto of the Saviour, apparently hewn in the rock, or a solitary rock rising above the ground with a cavity in it, was discovered. Later historians add that Helena, Constantine's mother, prompted by a divine vision, undertook a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and that she there discovered not only the Holy Sepulchre, but also the Cross of Christ.
For the next 17 centuries, after period destruction and rebuilding including most recently a fire that destroyed most of the facilities in 1810, the complex of buildings around, and eventually covering, the tomb are now called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
The tomb was enshrined in an enclosure called an edicule, as ordered by Constantine, which sat out in a courtyard surrounded by churches and other shrines commemorating different points in the story of Jesus' famous walk carrying the cross through Jerusalem. The path of his walk is called the Via Dolorosa and ends at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
After spending five years exploring Israel and Jerusalem, we share with you our tips for exploring and photographing the Old City of Jerusalem.
How do you photograph the wind? Can you photograph the wind? The wind is a subject of nature. It controls the weather and spreads seeds from flowers and trees throughout the land. Yet, the wind challenges the photographer to photograph its effects and not its presence. How do you photograph the wind, then? The challenge for photographers is not always just showing you what is visible, but also what is invisible. We share tips and techniques for photographing the wind. 
Exploring the Old City of Jerusalem means going back through time. Not just back but down through the layers of time. A city conquered, crushed, rebuilt, conquered and crushed, then rebuilt again and again and again, visitors to Jerusalem relive the adventure by touring the many layers of history which remain. For the more than five years we lived in Israel, we loved spending time in Jerusalem, exploring the Old City, and all the history and magic of this unique place. We'll help you to explore this ancient city through your camera, finding the magic that makes Jerusalem an amazing place to visit and explore. 
Growling bears, hissing cats, snorting beavers, splashing otters, howling wolves, calling eagles, screeching sandpile cranes, bugling elk...these are the sights and sounds that accompany you on your tour through the various native species of the United States Pacific Northwest when you visit 
Photographing mountains is like photographing the history of the planet. Mountains wear their history from the inside out and back again. They are great repositories of natural history, archeology, geology, and climate change. They house a good majority of the planet's fresh water reserves, influence the weather, and determine which side gets the water and which side doesn't. They are natural obstacles in our path, yet goals to be scaled. Mountains play important roles in our lives, and they are wondrous subjects to photograph. No matter where you point your camera on a mountain, from great distances or up close, the subject diversity is amazing. For those who enjoy the scenic view, mountains offer spectacular landscapes, clouds dancing around the pinnacle or low around the base, or dark with forests and rocks and patches of white snow. For those who like the closeup perspective, the geology alone can captivate a photographer for years. Photographing mountains is an art in and of itself. They are overwhelming structures that often create their own weather. This article offers tips, techniques and advice for photographing mountains. 
The Jewish Quarter of the Old City represents the second smallest area of the Old City. The Armenian Quarter is the smallest. The word "quarter" is not meant to represent the four parts of the whole Old City, but the sleeping "quarters" of the different populations. Currently, there is the Moselm Quarter, Christain Quarter, Jewish Quarter, and Armenian Quarter, and a small area near the Citadel called the Citadel Area. The Jewish Quarter is the newest and offers interesting architecture combing the old ruins with the new construction, and hosts some of the best archeological remains.
A crowded narrow street leads from the Jaffa Gate to deep inside the Old City of Jerusalem, a cobblestone divider between the Christian, Muslim and Jewish Quarters. It descends the gentle slope of the hill toward the Via Dolorosa, the painful path and last walk of Jesus of Nazareth as he carried the cross to his own crucifixion some 2000 years ago. Two narrow stone inclines bridge the steps in the center of the street, spaced just right for the wheels of the handcarts the merchants use to deliver their wares up and down the pitch. The street is lined with shops, hundreds of shops, none more than a few meters wide. The smells of exotic spices and fresh-baked pitas, the sounds of an oud playing somewhere in the distance, and the calls of the vendors assault the senses. The merchants stand in their doorways or sit on the stoop, smoking a cigarette and inviting passers-by to come in and "Look, please, would you like to look in my shop? It will only take a moment. You don't have to pay anything to look." We take you for a brief inside look in the shops of the Old City of Jerusalem as we spent the day hunting for gifts for friends and family back home. 
Most people spend their time photographing inside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. There is plenty to explore and photograph outside of the walls and we have a few recommendations on cemeteries, museums, Kidron Valley, Mount of Olives, Damascus Gate, David's Tomb, the Garden Tomb, Holocaust Museum, archaeological sites, religious and historical sites, and more.
