The British Museum currently has on special exhibition a detailed model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a church built on the site of what is thought to be the place where Jesus was crucified and buried.
The model was made in Bethlehem in the 17th Century. There is also some information in the exhibition about what you might call the religious souvenirs industry in Israel.
The Afana brothers from Bethlehem, makers and traders of religious souvenirs.
Seven branches of Christianity share the space of the church: Eastern Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox and Syriac Orthodox.
I was surprised to read that back in 2002 a monk moved his chair from one area to another in the church, which was perceived to be the Coptic area to the Ethiopian area of the church and the reaction of the monks in one of Christianity's most holy sites was to descend into a bit of an orgy of violence involving punches, chairs and even metal bars at the end of which some the monks were so badly injured they required hospital treatment. In a way, it's quite comforting really to see that people are people no matter where they are or how they are supposed to be acting.
www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/julyweb-only/7-29-52.0.html
