"We have said that the columns are placed round the building to the number above mentioned, but towards the east their positions and number have been altered, owing to the addition of a new building, which has its entrance-door on that side. This new church, just added, contains a wide and roomy choir, and a spacious chapel, in which is the high altar, consecrated to the honour of the Anastasis, or Resurrection, as the mosaic above it distinctly proves. For in it Christ is depicted as having broken the bars of hell, and rising again from the dead, and as bringing back thence our first father Adam. Without this chapel, and within the cloisters, is a wide corridor leading round the new building and also the older building of the monument aforesaid, suited for a procession. At the head of the said new church, towards the east and close to the choir-screen, is a well-lighted subterranean passage like a crypt, in which Queen Helena is said to have found our Lord's cross. Accordingly there is within an altar dedicated to the honour of the said S. Helena. The greater part of the sacred wood she took with her to Constantinople, the remainder however was left at Jerusalem, and is carefully and reverently kept in a certain place on the other side of the church opposite to Calvary."
Note VII. The whole of the dome has been covered with sheet-lead, which has disappeared on the south-west side (Plate XXXI.), where are the Greek terrace-roofs. Consequently the damp is every day destroying the wooden supports, and in the absence of such covering the ground below is flooded in the rainy season. Throughout the rest of its circumference, on the side of the Mohammedan terrace, the dome is in good condition, and the lead is intact. Why then, it may be asked, is it thus damaged only on the side belonging to the Greeks? We are told in reply, that the wind detaches the sheets of lead, (which, be it observed, are fastened by nails,) and carries them away; but it must be remarked that it is the north wind only, and not the others, which blows with great force over the city. It may be inferred from this how necessary it is that the whole covering of the Holy Sepulchre should belong exclusively to the church, and that no one should come near it or use it, in which case disputes would diminish, and the interior of the building would be less injured by damp.
Note VIII. The two gates, the one on the west, the other on the east, through which the square in front of the Church of the Resurrection is reached, are very narrow and low, so that strangers are surprised to find such a form used in places frequented by many visitors. This is not the work of the Mohammedans, but was done by agreement of the different religious bodies, in order to prevent beasts of burden from penetrating into these sacred places. Without some such precaution their owners, and especially the camel-drivers, would not fail to instal them there for the night, simply because of the convenient situation of the square. Besides this, these two gates form the barrier for the Jews of Jerusalem, beyond which they cannot pass without exposing themselves to insults, and perhaps to blows, or even worse, from the Christians of Jerusalem, who imagine the place profaned by the passing of a Jew: though they themselves think nothing of behaving irreverently while the holy offices are being celebrated. If, however, a Jew is accompanied by some one who can inspire them with fear or respect, these good Christians will perhaps mutter and grumble, but venture no further. If a slight bakshish be administered, they will even salute him, and call their correligionists a set of ignoramuses, though they themselves held the same views before receiving bakshish.
Note IX. The fact that there is only one entrance to the Church of the Resurrection is the cause of many serious accidents at times when there is any great gathering of people, particularly at Easter. This is especially the case when the times of the celebration of this festival by the different sects coincide. During the eight years which I spent at Jerusalem, not an Easter passed without some such casualty. Some were suffocated; some fainted in the crush, were trampled upon, and received serious injuries; some had their limbs broken. These accidents are constantly repeated, yet no one ever thinks of taking any means to avoid them, though it would be so easy to open the other door. It is well known how in 1836 Ibrahim Pasha attended the Greek service of the Holy Fire, and a quarrel arose betwixt the Greeks and the Armenians: the whole multitude sought some way of escape, and such was the crowding at this the only single door, that the conqueror got out with much difficulty by passing over thirty dead bodies that lay there, the victims of the crush. (See Curzon's Monasteries of the Levant, chap. 16.)
Note X. The following is Edrisi's account of the western gate. "The church is entered by the western gate, and the traveller finds himself under the cupola, which covers the whole of the enclosure, and which is one of the most remarkable things in the world. The church is lower than this door, and it is not possible to descend to the lower part on this side of the building. Entrance is to be had on the north side by a door which opens at the head of a staircase of thirty steps, which door is called Bâb-Sitti Mariam."