Garo Nalbandian

In the bird’s-eye view of the aedicula, visitors stream into the Tomb, which stands in the center of the Jerusalem church’s Rotunda. The Tomb’s cupola, blackened by the smoke of worshiper’s candles, rises above the inner Tomb chamber, which contains an empty burial bench. The modern aedicula has little in common with the smaller, single-story shrine built by Constantine, although it does preserve various architectural and design motifs from the series of shrines repeatedly built and rebuilt on this spot over the centuries.