I am fascinated by the human need to mark make and to inscribe ones name on just about anything that will bear or wear such inscription. These graffiti markings come from the Holy Sepulchre Church in the walled old city of Jerusalem. This is said to be Christianity's oldest church and is in a rather sorry state compared the the magnificent gothic and romasque structures of Europe. It is said to contain the last 5 stations of the cross so many pilgrims make the journey to this church. I say sorry state because it is rather dingy inside with no cohesion to the areas- this is apparently caused by the fact that 4 different christian churches have guardianship over the church but apparently do not get on- and have not done so for quite some time . I have shown the outside photo because if you look at the middle window you will notice there is a small ladder standing- it has apparently been there since 1860 or even earlier- in 1860 there is a painting of the church which shows the ladder in this position. It is still there because certain areas of the church are claimed by one of the four different churches who have guardianship of the space and they cannot agree as to whom will remove it or carry on the work which apparently the ladder was needed for.
The first photo is a piece of stone which was completely covered in graffiti complete with phone numbers should you be so inclined, and the second photos is of one of the pillars leading into the church.
3 comments:
The quibble over the ladder sounds like my kids sometimes. Sad that grownups can't work out something like that. I bet the graffiti on the pillar would make a great looking rubbing!
This made me laugh, but it's tragic too. At the same time it speaks volumes for religion.
When I visited the church I was not told about the ladder and missed the graffiti.
But I took a photo of the graffiti in Gaudi's Familia Segrada in Barcelona. I was going to post on my blog, but it needs to be scanned first.
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