Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross

The 14 stations on the Via Dolorosa mark Jesus's route, from trial and condemnation to crucifixion and burial.

Station I. Jesus is tried and condemned by Pontius Pilate.

Station II. Jesus is scourged and given the cross.

Station III. Jesus falls for the first time. (The chapel was built after World War II by soldiers of the Free Polish Forces.)

Station IV. Mary embraces Jesus.

Station V. Simon of Cyrene picks up the cross.

Station VI. A woman wipes the face of Jesus, whose image remains on the cloth. (She is remembered as Veronica, apparently derived from the words vera and icon, meaning true image.)

Station VII. Jesus falls for the second time. (The chapel contains one of the columns of the Byzantine Cardo, the main street of 6th-century Jerusalem.)

Station VIII. Jesus addresses the women in the crowd.

Station IX. Jesus falls for the third time.

Station X. Jesus is stripped of his garments.

Station XI. Jesus is nailed to the cross.

Station XII. Jesus dies on the cross.

Station XIII. Jesus is taken down from the cross.

Station XIV. Jesus is buried.

Walking the Stations

The Old City's main Jewish and Muslim sites can be visited individually, but the primary Christian shrines -- the Via Dolorosa (or "Way of the Cross") and the Holy Sepulcher -- are best experienced in sequence. This walk will keep you oriented in the confusing marketplace through which the Via Dolorosa picks its way. (Beware of slick pickpockets along this route.) The route takes about an hour; plan additional time if you want to linger at the sights.

About 300 yards up the road from St. Anne's Church (near Lions' Gate), look for a ramp on your left leading to the blue metal door of a school. On Friday afternoons at 4 (April to September; at 3 from October to March), the brown-robed Franciscans begin their procession of the Via Dolorosa in the school courtyard. This is Station I; Station II is across the street. Just beyond it, on the right, is the entrance to the Ecce Homo Convent of the Sisters of Zion, with a basement of ancient pavements, a huge cistern, and a Roman arch in the chapel. The continuation of the arch crosses the street outside.

The Via Dolorosa runs down into El-Wad Road, one of the Old City's most important thoroughfares. To the right, the street climbs toward the Damascus Gate; to the left, it passes through the heart of the Muslim Quarter and reaches the Western Wall. Arab matrons in bright embroidered dresses sail by; black-hatted Hasidic Jews in beards and side curls hurry on divine missions; nimble local Muslim kids in the universal uniform of T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers play in the street; and earnest groups of Christian pilgrims, almost oblivious to the tumult, pace out ancient footsteps.

As you turn left onto El-Wad Road, Station III is on your left. A few steps beyond, also on the left, is Station IV and, on the corner, Station V. There the Via Dolorosa turns right and begins its ascent toward Calvary. Halfway up the street, a brown wooden door on your left marks Station VI.

Facing you at the top of the stepped street, on the busy Suq Khan e-Zeit, is Station VII. The little chapel preserves one of the columns of the Byzantine Cardo, the main street of 6th-century Jerusalem, which lines up with the impressive remains excavated to the south, in today's Jewish Quarter. Step to the left, and walk 30 yards up the street facing you to Station VIII, marked by nothing more than an inscribed stone in the wall on the left. Return to the main street and turn right. (If you skip Station VIII, turn left as you reach Station VII from the stepped street.) One hundred yards along Suq Khan e-Zeit from Station VII, turn onto the ramp on your right that ascends parallel to the street. At the end of the lane is a column that represents Station IX.

Step through the open door to the left of the column into the courtyard of the Ethiopian Monastery known as Deir es-Sultan, an esoteric enclave of this poor but colorful sect. From the monastery's upper chapel, descend through a lower one and out a small wooden door to the court of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Most Christians venerate this site as that of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus -- you'll find Stations X, XI, XII, XIII, and XIV within the church -- but many Protestants are drawn to Skull Hill and the Garden Tomb, north of the Damascus Gate. A good time to be here is in the late afternoon, after 4 PM, when the different denominations in turn chant their way, amid billowing incense, between Calvary and the tomb.