A volume gathers the results of the excavations in the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre
The first of a series of books dedicated to the archaeological investigations carried out at the site that Christian tradition identifies as the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem was presented at Sapienza.
On Thursday, September 17, Sapienza University of Rome hosted the presentation of “Excavations at the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem”, the first volume in a series that will gather the results of the excavation campaigns carried out inside the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, one of the most contested and studied sites in Christian archaeology.
The book brings together contributions from more than forty scholars from different disciplines — archaeology, art history, epigraphy — and addresses one of the phases that emerged during the excavation. Since this is the first in a series, the editorial structure suggests that the subsequent phases identified at the site will be covered in further volumes, designed to fully account for the building’s stratification, which over the centuries has layered Byzantine, Crusader and Ottoman interventions over the oldest remains.
Fieldwork activities ended in October 2025, but the work of the international team has not stopped: the study of the recovered materials and archival research continue, necessary to place each finding in its correct historical context. This is a less visible phase, but no less lengthy than the excavation itself, and it explains why the publication of the results comes months after the closing of the site, and why it is structured as a multi-year series rather than a single report.
The Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre is a building under shared management by different Christian communities, a condition that over the decades has made even simple access for maintenance and restoration work complex. The recent excavations fit into this delicate framework, where every archaeological intervention must contend not only with the material fragility of the structure but also with its symbolic value for millions of believers around the world.
The news currently comes from a single source (Vatican News, which reported on the university presentation at Sapienza); no independent confirmation is currently available. The informational value of the presentation nonetheless remains tied to the concrete fact: the release of an academic volume that makes public, for the first time in organic form, data gathered over years of fieldwork at one of the most studied and visited sites in Christianity.
What remains now is the analysis of the materials in the archives and laboratories involved in the project, the phase on which the publication of the series’ subsequent volumes will depend.
