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From Plans of the Sacred Edifices of the Holy Land

Two views of the Via Dolorosa capture the European sense of Jerusalem’s holy places. Bernardino Amico’s rendition of the second portion of the Via Dolorosa (shown here), with the Ecce Homo Arch, where Jesus was exhibited (“Behold the man”), at upper left and a chapel at right marking where Jesus met his mother. (compare with Elzear Horn’s view of Jerusalem)

Representations such as these fed the pious imaginations of Christians in Europe. As a result, pilgrims to the Holy Land were shocked to find that the devotional route shown to them by Jerusalem’s Franciscan guides had fewer stations and did not end at the Holy Sepulchre. Over time, the route visitors had come to expect triumphed over the more modest route. The one fixed in the minds of the faithful stands today as the traditional Via Dolorosa.