As in days of old, present-day pilgrims wend their way up the Via Dolorosa following the path that commemorates the path Jesus took to meet his crucifixion. Singing as they go and bearing a cross, these groups tread on stones worn smooth by centuries of pilgrimages.

At the end, their journey will culminate with the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the magnificent tomb where Jesus was laid to rest-and where Christianity was born.

The First Station of the Cross

The journey begins at the site of the Omariyyeh College, a Muslim school located in a building that was once a Turkish barracks. But the history of the location goes back farther than that-where the school stands was once the site of the Antonia Fortress, built by King Herod and named for Mark Antony.

It was in the Antonia Fortress that Jesus is believed to have been condemned to death: Thus begins the first stage of an arduous, tragic and yet ultimately redemptive journey.

Just across the way is the Franciscan Church of the Flagellation, beside a convent of the same name, and a Flagellation Museum nearby.

In the Chapel of Condemnation, graffiti from the Roman period-perhaps created by Roman soldiers-provides a stark reminder that even when historical events are hundreds of years distant, their impact lives on in the ancient stones.