Christ's Tomb at High Risk of "Catastrophic" Collapse, Scientists Warn

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Scientists in the midst of a restoration project for the Edicule in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre have concluded that the structure has a “very real risk” of collapse in the near future, if emergency measures aren’t taken quickly.

The Edicule is the small structure that houses the place believed to have been the tomb of Christ. This is where Christ’s dead body was placed after his death on the cross, and where he subsequently rose from the dead. The Edicule is itself located inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

“When it fails,” one of the scientists told National Geographic, “the failure will not be a slow process, but catastrophic.”

The problem is in the structure’s foundations: the scientists discovered that it’s crumbling, decaying, and further weakened by a tunnel system directly underneath it.

To fix the problem, the team has a proposed a 10-month $6 million project. It’s unclear at this time what will be done.

This team of scientists is the same team that recently opened up the normally-sealed-off tomb of Christ briefly for the first time since the early 19th century and discovered both a strange electro-magnetic field and a sweet aroma (read more here).