60 Hours Inside the Holy Sepulchre: The Greek Mission That Restored the Holy Aedicule

For about 60 hours in October 2016, one of Christianity’s holiest sites became an extraordinarily demanding scientific laboratory. The slabs above the burial bed at the Holy Sepulchre were removed, the original limestone rock was revealed, and scientists were able to examine the site before it was closed again.

Professor Antonia Moropoulou led the 50-member interdisciplinary team from the National Technical University of Athens that undertook one of the world’s most difficult monument-conservation projects — and reached the Tomb’s original rock.

At the centre of this singular operation was a Greek scientific team.

The restoration of the Holy Aedicule was undertaken by the National Technical University of Athens, with Professor Antonia Moropoulou of its School of Chemical Engineering as chief scientific supervisor. An interdisciplinary team of about 50 people took part, bringing together specialists in chemical engineering, architecture, civil engineering, photogrammetry and geodesy.

Moropoulou and a monument at the limits of its endurance

The Aedicule was in poor condition. Moisture, water, earlier incompatible interventions and earthquakes had placed the structure under considerable strain. Since 1947, an external metal frame installed by the British authorities had been holding the monument together.

In 2015, the NTUA team carried out a comprehensive diagnostic study. It used 3D documentation, ground-penetrating radar and other non-destructive techniques to examine even areas that could not be opened.

Moropoulou had overall responsibility for the scientific supervision and directed the interdisciplinary team. NTUA itself described its participation in the project as a scientific distinction of global importance.

What they saw when they opened the Tomb

In October 2016, the marble cladding covering the burial-bed area was removed.

Beneath it, a second marble slab engraved with a cross was revealed. When the material lower down was removed, the original limestone surface of the burial bed — which had survived — appeared.

“This is the Holy Rock that has been venerated for centuries,” Moropoulou said at the time, explaining the significance of the discovery.

The measurements also confirmed that parts of the original carved rock of the burial chamber still exist inside the later Aedicule.

The Aedicule had to stay open

The team faced an unusual constraint: worship and pilgrims’ access could not stop.

The work therefore had to take place around religious services, in a space of extremely limited dimensions and immense symbolic importance. The project was completed in about nine months and handed over on 22 March 2017, before Easter.

On the day of the handover, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew publicly thanked the NTUA scientists and made special reference to the distinguished Professor Antonia Moropoulou.

And a second Greek signature

There is also a historical detail that makes the Greek contribution even more striking.

The present Aedicule was rebuilt in 1810, after the devastating fire of 1808, by the architect Nikolaos Komnenos, known as “Kalfa Komnenos”. More than 200 years later, a Greek scientific institution returned to save the structure.

And the project continues to generate scientific knowledge: as recently as 2026, new analyses of the historic mortars in the burial chamber were published, based on research carried out during the restoration.

Read also (in Greek): Did they really find the tomb of Jesus? What new excavations in Jerusalem reveal