In 1847 the Ottoman Empire allowed the hierarchy of the Catholic Church to build a new cathedral in Palestine. The Co-Cathedral, completed in 1872, is part of the building complex of the Latin Patriarchate, effectively the bishop's church. For historical reasons, however, the Catholic Church has the Church of the Holy Sepulchre officially being the cathedral.
During the construction of the Co-Cathedral, seat of the Latin Patriarch, its builders came upon remains of the solid masonry belonging to Jerusalem's old wall.[2]
Description
In neo-Gothic style, the church has a floor plan of a Greek cross with a length of 28 meters and a width of 24 meters.[3] The three-aisled church has an 8.5 metres wide nave, and the side aisles have a width of 4.5 metres; these are overbuilt with galleries.[3] The church has four decorated stained glass windows, marking the ends of the cross.[3] Three of them have the same shape:[3] the window above the high altar represents the risen Christ as victor over death, the window on the left shows the Crucifixion, and the window on the right depicts the Adoration of the Magi.[citation needed] The rear window over the entrance is a large rose window[3] and represents the Four Evangelists.[citation needed] The church has five altars,[3] three in the nave and the two aisles and two smaller ones at the ends of the transept.[citation needed]
^Pierotti, Ermete (1864), Jerusalem explored: being a description of the ancient and modern city, with numerous illustrations consisting of views, ground plans, and sections, translated by T.G. Bonney, London: Bell and Daldy; Cambridge: Deighton, Bell and Co., p. 25, OCLC1472902357
^ abcdefSieben Artikel über Jerusalem, aus den Jahren 1859 bis 1869 von Dr. Philipp Wolff ("Seven articles on Jerusalem, written between 1859 and 1869 by Dr. Philipp Wolff"), chapter 6: "Neubaten Jerusalems. 4. Die neue römische Patriarchalkirche." ("Jerusalem's new buildings. 4. The new church of the Latin Patriarchate."), from 'Aus dem Ausland' 1864. Published by Belser (Stuttgart), 1869, p. 95. In German.