VIA DOLOROSA

The Via Dolorosa ("Sorrowful Way") bears witness to Christ's journey, carrying his cross, from the Anonia fortress to Calvary. The route starts at the Lion's Gate in the east of the city, crosses the Muslim quarter along the Temple Mount and ends at the Holy Sepulchre in the Christian quarter, just over 500 m away. Nine stations are located on the Via Dolorosa, with the last five in the church itself.

Station I. According to tradition, Jesus was interrogated by Pontius Pilate in the Chapel of the Flagellation. He was whipped and condemned to death. Inside, stained-glass windows depict the flagellation of Christ, Pilate washing his hands and the liberation of Barabbas. Above the altar is a large golden crown of thorns.

Station II. In the Franciscan Church of the Condemnation, Jesus is loaded with the cross. TheEcce Homo arch, under which you pass as you continue along the Via Dolorosa, takes its Latin name from the words Pilate uttered as he presented Jesus to the crowd: "Behold the man." This arch did not exist at the time of Jesus.

Station III. The Via Dolorosa turns left to follow the course of Al-Wad Road for two stations. At the crossroads, a small chapel, built in the second half of the ^19th century by Catholic soldiers belonging to the Polish Cavalry, marks the spot where Jesus first fell.

Station IV. Still in Al-Wad Road, next to the Armenian church, Jesus meets his mother Mary.

Station V. Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross.

Station VI. Saint Veronica wipes Jesus' face. Inside the small Armenian church is the saint's tomb. The silk veil she used to wipe Christ's face, on which her features remained imprinted, has been preserved since 707 in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.

Station VII. Here, the Way of the Cross crosses the noisy Khan es-Zeit souk (where the cardo maximus and one of the decumani of Hadrian's Aelia Capitolina once crossed). Just after, Jesus falls for the second time.

Station VIII. A small cross engraved on the wall of the Johannite convent recalls the episode in which Jesus consoles the women of Jerusalem. "Weep not for me, O daughters of Jerusalem, but for yourselves and for your children."

Station IX. At the Coptic church overlooking the Khan es-Zeit souk, Jesus falls for the third time. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre houses the last five stations of the Stations of the Cross, since it contains Calvary and Jesus' tomb.

Station X. At the entrance to the Franciscan chapel on the upper floor of the Holy Sepulchre (immediately on your right after the entrance), on the presumed site of Calvary, or Golgotha, Jesus is stripped of his clothes.

Station XI. In the Latin nave, restored in 1937 by A. Barluzzi, of the Franciscan chapel, Jesus is crucified.

Station XII. Jesus' death on the cross, in the Greek Orthodox chapel. A silver disk beneath the altar marks the spot where the cross would have been planted.

Station XIII. Next door, Jesus' body is handed over to his mother. The Latin altar of this thirteenth station is adorned with a ^16th-century wooden bust of the Virgin of Sorrows, donated by Portugal in 1778.

Station XIV. Jesus' body is laid in the tomb, in the Holy Sepulchre proper: on the first floor, in the center of the rotunda called Anastasis (Resurrection).