One of my most memorable times in Jerusalem was the time I spent in the "Garden Tomb". The Garden Tomb is believed by many to be the garden and tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, and therefore a possible site of the resurrection of Jesus. The Garden is owned and administered by The Garden Tomb Association, a Charitable Trust based in the United Kingdom.
In Jerusalem for a visit in 1884, General Charles Gordon spied a prominent rocky crag which looked to him like it could be the "place of the skull" mentioned in the Bible as where Jesus was crucified.
Around the corner Gordon identified an ancient tomb and putting the two together he located the hill of crucifixion and the nearby burial place.
The slope has eroded badly in the last hundred years, but I could still see the eye sockets and the nose bridge.While officially the Garden Tomb Association only maintains this as a possible site for Christ's burial, some tour guides of the site are convinced of the authenticity. They note the large cistern nearby, which proves the area must have been a garden in Jesus' day. They maintain that there are marks of Christian veneration at the tomb which also prove its sanctity throughout the ages.
This is the place believed by many to be the resting place of Jesus. Some archaeologists question th
e authenticity of this tomb because typological features suggest that it is a tomb originally hewn in the time of the Old Testament and not a "new tomb" as specifically stated in Scripture.
