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Garo Nalbandian

The underground chapel of Helena in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in Jerusalem, commemorates the woman said to have discovered the true cross. Twenty-one steps (behind the low wall at far left) lead further down to another chapel, carved out of a cistern, where Helena is said to have made the find. Neither chapel was part of the original church as designed by Constantine; they were added only when the church was rebuilt in the Crusader period. The elaborate column capitals, carved with basketwork and acanthus leaf designs, date to this period.