Gordon's Calvary / The Garden Tomb
Gordon's Calvary. In the 19th century, a number of scholars disputed the identification of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre with the actual site of Jesus's crucifixion and burial. In 1842, Otto Thenius proposed that a rocky outcrop outside the walls was Calvary (Golgotha), the place of the skull. The Garden Tomb itself was discovered in 1867, and was soon identified as the burial place of Jesus, mainly because of its location in the area that had been identified as Calvary. Another factor in its favour was the recent discovery the tombstone of the deacon Nonnus in the nearby Church of St. Stephen, which mentioned the Holy Sepulchre. The Anglican Church committed itself to the site as the place of Jesus burial and Gordon's Tomb became the Garden Tomb. The Church has since withdrawn its formal support, but the Garden Tomb continues to be identified by popular Protestant piety
