To get to the Holy Sepulchre, scientists had to remove a few plates.
October 26, with burial bed, the researchers removed the marble slab that was there since at least 1555. It was installed there due to the fact that many pilgrims tried to break off a piece of the structure.
Under the slab archaeologists, according to the report, found “a layer of fill material”, and when 60 hours of non-stop work it was removed, it opened another marble slab carved on its surface a cross.
On the night of October 28, a few hours before the end of the period allotted for the opening of the tomb, archaeologists reached the original bed of limestone, which was untouched.
Scientists conducting the study hope to find out why St. Helena, which carried out excavations in Jerusalem in the fourth century, decided that this tomb is the burial place of Christ.
The sepulchre is enclosed within the aedicule (Edicule) — domed chapel made of yellow-pink marble. The current Edicule restored in the years 1809-1810 by the project of the Greek architect, Nicholas Comyn. In this tomb, according to the gospel, Christ was buried after his crucifixion, and on the third day rose again.
