st to the place where
our Lord appeared to Mary Magdalen, and then to the Chapel of the
Latins, where a part of the pillar of flagellation is preserved.
The Greeks have possession of the choir of the church, which is opposite
the door of the Holy Sepulchre. This part of the building is of great
size, and is magnificently decorated with gold and carving and stiff
pictures of the saints. In the centre is a globe of black marble on a
pedestal, under which they say the head of Adam was found; and you are
told also that this is the exact centre of the globe; the Greeks having
thus transferred to Jerusalem, from the temple of Apollo at Delphi, the
absurd notions of the pagan priests of antiquity relative to the form of
the earth.
Returning towards the door of the church, and leaving it on our right
hand, we ascended a flight of about twenty steps, and found ourselves in
the Chapel of the Cross on Mount Calvary. At the upper end of this
chapel is an altar, on the spot where the crucifixion took place, and
under it is the hole into which the end of the cross was fixed: this is
surrounded with a glory of silver gilt, and on each side of it, at the
distance of about six feet, are the holes in which the crosses of the
two thieves stood. Near to these is a long rent in the rock, which was
opened by an earthquake at the time of the crucifixion. Although the
three crosses appear to have stood very near to each other, yet, from
the manner in which they are placed, there would have been room enough
for them, as the cross of our Saviour stands in front of the other two.
Leaving this chapel we entered a kind of vault under the stairs, in
which the rent of the rock is again seen: it extends from the ceiling to
the floor, and has every appearance of having been caused by some
convulsion of nature, and not formed by the hands of man. Here were
formerly the tombs of Godfrey de Bouillon and Baldwin his brother, who
were buried beneath the cross for which they fought so valiantly: but
these tombs have lately been destroyed by the Greeks, whose detestation
of everything connected with the Latin Church exceeds their aversion to
the Mahometan creed. In the sacristy of the Latin monks we were shown
the sword and spurs of Godfrey de Bouillon; the sword is apparently of
the age assigned to it: it is double-edged and straight, with a
cross-guard.[11]
In another part of the church is a small dismal chapel, in the floor of
which are several anc
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