V. Turn right on the Via Dolorosa to reach the Fifth Station, where Simon the
Cyrene volunteered to carry Jesus's cross. Look for the brown door on the left,
with the inscription "V St."
VI. Fifty meters farther, the remains of a small column designate the Sixth Station
(marked with a "VI"), where Veronica wiped Jesus's face with her handkerchief.
The mark of his face was left on the cloth, now on display at the Greek Orthodox
Patriarchate on the street of the same name. Look for a pair of doors on the left,
one green and one dark brown; the column is set into the wall between the doors.
VII. The Seventh Station, straight ahead at the intersection with Khan al-Zeit,
marks Jesus's second fall, precipitated by the sudden steepness of the road. In the
first century, a gate to the countryside opened here, and tradition holds that the
notices of Jesus's condemnation were posted on it.
VIII. Crossing Khan al-Zeit, ascend Aqabat al-Khanqa and look left past the Greek
Orthodox Convent for the stone Latin cross that marks the Eighth Station. Here
Jesus turned to the women who mourned for him, saying, "Daughters of Jerusa-
lem, do not weep for me, weep rather for yourselves and for your children" (Luke
23:28). The small stone is part of the wall and difficult to spot; a large red-and-
white sign sticking out of the wall makes the task much easier.
IX. Backtrack to Khan al-Zeit, take a right, walk for about 50m through the mar-
ket, ascend the wide stone stairway on the right (at Mike's Center), and continue
through a winding passageway to the Coptic Church. The remains of a column to
the left of the door mark the Ninth Station, where Jesus fell a third time. The Coptic
complex there also contains three small churches, all of which are still in use.
X-XIV. The fastest way to the rest of the stations is to go through the Ethiopian
Monastery, to the left when facing the Ninth Station. The Ethiopians possess no
part of the Holy Sepulchre itself, so they have become squatters on the roof. The
modest compound houses a small but spiritual church; enter through the roof and
descend, exiting next to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the Via Dolorosa
ends. The placement of the last five stations inside the Church of the Holy Sepul-
chre contradicts an alternative hypothesis that the Crucifixion took place at the
skull-shaped Garden Tomb (see 52), on Nablus Rd. in East Jerusalem.
The Church of the Holy Sepulchre marks Golgotha, also called Calvary, the site of
the Crucifixion. The location was first determined by Eleni, mother of the
Emperor Constantine, during her pilgrimage in 331 CE. Eleni thought that Hadrian
had erected a pagan temple to Venus and Jupiter on the site in order to divert
Christians from their faith. She sponsored excavations and uncovered the tomb of
Joseph of Arimathea and three crosses, which she surmised had been hastily left
there after the Crucifixion as the Sabbath approached. Constantine built a church
over the site in 335, which was later destroyed by the Persians in 614, rebuilt, and
destroyed again (this time by the Turks) in 1009. Part of the church's foundations
buttress the present Crusader structure, built in 1149. When the present building
was erected, its architects decided to unite all the oratories, chapels, and other
sanctuaries that had cropped up around the site under one monumental cross. By
1852, tremendous religious conflicts had developed within the Holy Sepulchre.
The uninterested Ottoman rulers divided the church among the Franciscan, Greek
Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, Coptic, Syrian, and Ethiopian churches. The first
three are the major shareholders, entitled to hold masses and processions and to
burn incense in their shrines and chapels.