- The streets in Jerusalem’s Old City were empty on Easter this year due to lockdown measures imposed by Israel, including social distancing.
- Easter is the most important religious festival of the year for Christians, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem is one of the most important Christian holy sites in the world.
- Typically, thousands of tourists and pilgrims walk along the road Christians believe Jesus walked before he was crucified.
- This year, the streets were empty and the church was closed to the public.
- As of April 12, there have been over 1.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases around the world, along with more than 114,000 deaths.
- Here’s what Easter in Jerusalem looked like during the coronavirus.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
This weekend, people from around the world celebrated the Christian holiday of Easter, which marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Easter is the most important religious festival of the year for Christians, and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem is one of the most important Christian holy sites in the world.
Every year, worshippers flood the streets of Jerusalem’s Old City and walk along the route Christians believe Jesus walked before he was crucified.
But due to the novel coronavirus spread, Israel has put strict social distancing measures in place and has banned mass social gatherings, including religious ceremonies. Because of this, Jerusalem’s streets were empty this year and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher was closed to the public.
As of April 12, there have been over 1.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases around the world, along with more than 114,000 deaths.
Before-and-after photos show what Jerusalem typically looks like during the Easter holiday versus what it looked like this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
BEFORE: In the week leading up to and including Easter, tens of thousands of pilgrims follow the steps Christians believe Jesus took through Jerusalem.
The worshippers walk from the edge of the Old City, along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Christians believe Jesus was crucified.
AFTER: But a place for waiting along the Via Dolorosa was eerily deserted on April 10.
Sources: Middle East Eye, Time
BEFORE: For Christians, Easter is the most important religious festival of the year.
In 2020, Roman Catholics celebrated it on April 12 while the Greek Orthodox church's celebration will be a week later.
Source: Reuters
AFTER: But with Israel on lockdown, the highly-trafficked Via Dolorosa, in Jerusalem's Old City, was empty.
BEFORE: Christian worshippers typically fill Via Dolorosa from side to side.
AFTER: This year, Via Dolorosa was deserted except for several police officers monitoring the area.
BEFORE: A massive procession carries a large cross in 2019.
AFTER: This year, only small numbers of people worshipped at the holy site.
BEFORE: Last year, cars were not parked on Via Dolorosa during Easter. There was barely room for the worshippers.
AFTER: But this year, cars were parked along the procession route.
BEFORE: It is the first time in centuries that public life has been put on hold in Israel and Palestine during Easter.
Source: Middle East Eye
AFTER: According to Al Jazeera, only a "handful of friars were allowed to walk the traditional route through the rain-soaked Old City."
Source: Al Jazeera
BEFORE: The worshippers' destination is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which is hundreds of years old. It's usually filled with people on Good Friday.
AFTER: This year the church was closed to the public. It's the first time it's been closed during Easter since 1349, when it closed because of a plague called Black Death.
But it was open to a few clerics and, according to Time, their chanting "echoed faintly through the heavy wooden doors, as a few people stopped and knelt outside to pray."