In 1867, British Major General Charles Gordon discovered a rocky escarpment, which from several angles resembles the face of a skull. The area now known as Gordon’s Calvary, is located just behind a Palestinian bus station near the Damascus Gate.
Golgotha is the Aramaic word for skull (Greek kranion), and may refer to the shape of the place of Christ’s crucifixion. Gordon concluded that this rocky mound would most likely have been Calvary.
The Garden Tomb, adjacent to Gordon’s Calvary was also discovered in 1867, and was very soon identified as the burial place of Jesus. It’s easy to see why this Garden Tomb is popular with Protestant believers. It resembles what one imagines when reading the Gospel accounts, and it is far easier to pray and contemplate the profound power of Christ’s resurrection than in the crowded, iconoclastic laden Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
The UK-based Garden Tomb Association is the warden of the property. Rather than trying to authenticate the area as the actual burial place of Jesus, they stress the importance of the resurrection in the lives of all believers.
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