THE TOMB OF CHRIST, JERUSALEM; ANALYTICAL PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND 3D
COMPUTER-MODELLING FOR ARCHAEOLOGY AND RESTORATION.
M.A.R.Cooper, S.Robson, R.M.Littleworth, Engineering Surveying Research Centre,
Department of Civil Engineering, City University, London EC1 VOHB, UK. ISPRS Commission V
ABSTRACT
The Tomb is a complex structure with confined, highly ornamented internal spaces under almost continuous occupation
by priests, pilgrims and tourists. About 170 photographs and 800 survey measurements were taken to produce a
comprehensive record of the exterior and interior. Data were combined in a simultaneous multistation convergent bundle
adjustment to give about 1000 camera parameters and 1000 object point coordinates with 3000 degrees of freedom. The
estimated camera parameters were used in conjunction with an analytical plotter to produce 3D data. The historical
background to and reasons for the survey, the site work, computations, accuracies and 3D computer-models are described
and illustrated. Use of 3D photogrammetric and other data for archaeological research and restoration is described.
KEY WORDS: Accuracy. Analytical. Archaeological. CAD/CAM. Computer Graphics.
1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.
The structure which is known as the Tomb of Christ 1s
situated in the middle of the Rotunda of the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem (Fig.1). It is the latest in a
series of edicules (little houses) which have occupied the
same site since Constantine's builders in 326 - 335
constructed the great church to enclose the sites of the
crucifixion and resurrection. Bishop Macarius of
Jerusalem in 326 had identified the latter which then was
covered by Hadrian's Temple of Aphrodite, erected in
135. As the Roman Temple and soil were removed, an
eyewitness, Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, reported that a
cave came into view. Itis probable that the authenticity of
Macarius’ identification of the site and Eusebius’
description of the uncovering of the cave there will never
be independently verified, but continuous occupation and
recognition of that site since the time of Constantine are
widely accepted.
Constantine’s builders cut away the outer parts of rock
surrounding the Tomb, leaving a monolith standing in the
centre of an open, levelled courtyard (cf. the tomb in
F1g.2). According to Eusebius, the cave was "adorned with
choice columns and much ornament, sparing no art to
make it beautiful". By about 390, a covered rotunda had
been built with the decorated tomb at its centre. Evidence
of the structure of this Constantinian edicule exists in the
form of models (one is at Narbonne, apparently of the 5th
century), crude representations on silver flasks and ivories
bought by pilgrims (Freeman-Grenville, 1991) and in
accounts and sketches made by visitors to the site, notably
by Arculf in the late 7th century. Based on such evidence,
Wilkinson (1972,1981) has proposed a representation of
the Constantinian edicule.
It is probable that the structure of Constantine's edicule
remained unaltered for 700 years, surviving the Persian
sack of Jerusalem in 614 and the Arab capture of the city
in 638. Some repairs and renovations were no doubt
necessary, particularly to the ornamentation, but the main
structural elements remained until, in 1009, the mad
Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim ordered the edicule to be
smashed to pieces. This was not an isolated act: " -- he
treated Moslem, Jew and Christian with even-handed
venom" (Freeman-Grenville, 1987). Rebuilding was
carried out by the Byzantine emperor Constantine
Monomachus in 1048. It was in this form that the edicule
was seen by the Crusaders in 1099 and visited by pilgrims
for 500 years. The temptation to take home souveniers and
Figure 1. The Edicule as it is today.
pieces of the shrine for religious and commercial
advantage was not always resisted, neither was the
temptation to leave behind personal inscriptions and even
coats of arms carved into the stone. By 1555, the whole
structure had become so dilapidated that the Custos of the
Holy Land, Father Boniface of Ragusa (a Franciscan)
arranged for the edicule to be rebuilt "from the first
foundations" (Stefani, 1875).
The 1555 reconstruction lasted until 1808 when a fire,
started in an Armenian chapel in a gallery, spread to
timbers which supported the lead roof over the Rotunda.
The subsequent collapse of the roof onto the edicule below
meant that reconstruction was again carried out. With the
permission of the Ottoman Porte, the architect Comninos
of Mytilene was responsible for the design and
reconstruction of the edicule according to the taste of the
Greek Orthodox community. The present Edicule is that
