Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

Located in central Palestine, Jerusalem was the religious capital of the Jewish people and the site of their Temple. Jesus ministered in Jerusalem and it was the place of his death and resurrection. Following the ascension of Jesus, the bestowal of the Holy Spirit on the disciples at Pentecost occurred in this city. Jerusalem was the site of an important early community of strongly Jewish Christians and a council held there attempted to settle the question of Christian observance of the Jewish law (Acts 15). Following the destruction of the Temple during a Jewish revolt against Rome in 70, the city ceased to be a leading center of early Christianity. After the conversion of Constantine in the fourth century, Christians developed an interest in places in the city associated with the life and death of Jesus, and Jerusalem became a place of pilgrimage. Jerusalem was declared a patriarchate in 451 but never attained the importance of the other patriarchates. Christian crusaders captured the city after a bloody campaign in 1099, but failed to realize their dream of placing it under permanent Christian governance.