Graffiti at the Holy Sepulchre Entrance

JerusalemIsrael

On the left side of the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there is a prominent red graffiti inscription on the top of a marble column that reads:

“July 8, 1384

Piero Vandermini.”

Vandermini was a Venetian merchant and pilgrim who visited Jerusalem in 1384 during a period of relative peace and stability that prevailed under Mamluk rule. We don’t know exactly who he was and do not have any other historical documentation about him. However, the Vandermini family to which he belonged was an important noble family and part of the aristocracy that ruled Venice.

Piero’s graffiti inscription is not an exceptional or singular case. The walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher are covered with hundreds and thousands of crosses and other inscriptions, silent testimony to generations of pilgrims and tourists who came from all over the Christian world to visit the place of Jesus’ crucifixion and burial - one of the most sacred and important sites according to Christian tradition.

(Anecdote authored by: עמיר)

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