Thread by @MichaelDPress, There's an amazing wealth and variety of graffiti left by pilgrims just [...]

Michael Press

MichaelDPress

There's an amazing wealth and variety of graffiti left by pilgrims just at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Let's take a quick look . . .

Photo of the left side of the entrance (facing in) by Djampa via Wikimedia Commons, 2012
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Jerusalem_Holy_Sepulchre_gate_and_columns.jpg

This Wikimedia Commons photo is great because it is annotated with a number of detail photos of graffiti on different parts of the entryway! Worth taking a look.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Jerusalem_Holy_Sepulchre_gate_and_columns.jpg

The most prominent graffiti are the dazzling patterns of crosses on the lower parts of the columns and doors:

(photo by Gila Brand via Wikimedia Commons, 2007)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:AncientgrafS.jpg

But there are actually lots of inscriptions -- in Greek, Arabic, Italian, Armenian, Georgian, Syriac, and more!

In 1384 an Italian pilgrim named Piero Vendramini climbed to the top of one of the columns and painted his name very visibly in red

(photo by Loopstation via Wikimedia Commons, 2011)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:In_Jerusalem_21.jpg

On the wall between the door and the closest column, an inscription in Georgian:
"The tomb of Christ, have mercy on Sopron"

(detail of photo by Djampa)
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Jerusalem_Holy_Sepulchre_gate_and_columns.jpg

For this translation, & the several other Georgian inscriptions by the entry, see Tamara Pataridze & Yana Tchekhanovets, "Revisiting the Georgian inscriptions on the portal of the holy sepulchre church in Jerusalem" https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313795965_Revisiting_the_Georgian_inscriptions_on_the_portal_of_the_holy_sepulchre_church_in_Jerusalem

(PDF) Revisiting the Georgian inscriptions on the portal of the holy sepulchre church in Jerusalem

PDF | For centuries, pilgrims carved their names on the columns flanking the southern entrance to the Holy Sepulchre Church in Jerusalem in a variety of... | Find, read and cite all the research you...

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/313795965_Revisiting_the_Georgian_inscriptions_on_the_portal_of_the_holy_sepulchre_church_in_Jerusalem

Thanks to @michaeltalbotuk for inspiring this thread.
Explore the graffiti, they really are remarkable. https://twitter.com/michaeltalbotuk/status/1249271574169112577

https://twitter.com/michaeltalbotuk/status/1249271574169112577

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