This is considered as an alternative site to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. While getting little support for its claims, it is appreciated by people for its tranquility and beauty. As one Catholic priest has been quoted, "If the Garden Tomb is not the true site of the Lord's death and resurrection it should have been."

Biblical significance was first attached to this location by General Charles Gordon (of Khartoum fame) in 1883. Gordon refused to believe that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre could occupy the site of Golgotha and on identifying a skull-shaped hill just north of Damascus Gate he began excavations. The suitably ancient tombs he discovered under the mound confirmed him in his convictions that this was the true site of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus.

Archaeologists have since scotched the theory by dating the tombs as coming from the 5^thcentury B.C. Cynics suggest that the continued championing of the Garden Tomb has more to do with the fact that it's the only holy site in Jerusalem that the Protestants, its owners, have any stake in.

It's open Monday to Saturday from 8:30 am to noon and 2 to 5:30 pm, closed Sunday. Admission is free. On Sunday at 9 am an interdenominational service with singing is held, which lasts about 50 minutes. To get there from Sultan Suleyman Street head north along Nablus Road And turn right at Schick Street.

John 19:40-42 may be a reference to this site; this verse is on a sign by the tomb, and written in three languages, "Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore because of the Jews' preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.

There is a wooden door to the tomb (not the tomb's original door) that says, "HE IS NOT HERE--FOR HE IS RISEN". Inside there is a place where Jesus could have been laid.

The area where the Garden Tomb is was covered with debris from the period of around the second century until the late 1800s. The tomb area was a rock quarry that was turned into a garbage dump, and was used as such from after the Jewish War of 132-135 until when it was uncovered in the late 1800s. Since this entire area was under rubble from circa 135-1880, it is possible that one of the early Christians or even one of the twelve apostles could have carved this cross. Near the rock bed there is the Garden Tomb Cross. To the examining eye, the alpha and omega symbols are visible.

Jesus was crucified near Golgotha, the place that looked like a skull. John 19:17-18 "And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center." He was buried near this spot. The Garden Tomb's proximity to a skull shaped geological phenomenon (which could qualify for the top ten most fascinating images in Christianity) further strengthens its claim of being the legitimate burial place of Christ.

The formation in the hillside has been there for a very long time. There are pictures from the late 1800s showing the same image with very little change (i.e., from erosion). In fact the Englishman who first purchased the land made the connection between the Biblical record and the present physical characteristics when he discovered the tomb and the proximity to the skull image in the hillside.