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Figure 4. Chapel of the Angel ("near vertical"Hasselblad photograph). The entrance from the Rotunda is on the right; the 
entrance to the Tomb Chamber, on the left. 
Following a series of requests, members of the team were 
however especially privileged on two nights to be allowed 
to remain in the Church after it was closed to the public at 
20.00h, not to be reopened until dawn the next day. Three 
hours between the 20.00h closure and the start of the 
Communities! liturgies at around 23:00h were therefore 
available for undisturbed work inside the Edicule. 
Individual pilgrims however, had remained hidden in the 
Church until it was closed, only to emerge from the gloom 
after a while for their own private devotions at the Tomb, 
so the full three hours' work was not possible. 
The interior of the Edicule consists of two chambers 
(Fig.3). The outer, the Chapel of the Angel (Fig.4), is 
roughly 3m square at floor level, with a Im high pedestal 
at its centre. The walls are lined with highly decorated 
marble slabs up to a height of about 2.5m. Fifteen oil 
lamps are suspended in a cluster from a metal grid which 
can be lowered from the roof by a pulley so that they can 
be filled. Custodianship of and access to the lamps are 
governed by the Status Quo. When in position they hang 
down to within about 2m of the floor. 
The entrance from the Chapel of the Angel to the inner 
chamber, the Tomb Chamber, is through a small 
passageway about 1.3m high, 0.6m wide and 0.8m long. 
The Tomb Chamber is roughly 2m square, but a horizontal 
marble slab, about 1.2m wide runs along one side 0.7m 
above the floor, so leaving an area of floor only 0.8m wide. 
The marble slab is believed to cover the rock-cut bench in 
the original burial chamber. The walls are covered by 
plain marble slabs with a richly carved marble ikon 
covering the wall above the horizontal slab. Forty three oil 
lamps hang in the confined space above.