Immovable Ladder, Cedar wood ladder at Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem.
The Immovable Ladder is a cedar wood ladder on the outer wall of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. It leans against a window ledge on the second level of the facade, directly above the main entrance to the building.
Engravings from 1728 show the object in the same position it holds now, and a decree issued by Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid I in 1757 froze all changes. This decree requires all communities to agree before anyone can alter the building.
Visitors refer to this object as the Immovable Ladder because no one can move it without consent from all six denominations sharing the church. Any shift in its position would upset the delicate balance between the communities who govern the building together.
The object is easy to spot from the street in front of the church and requires no entry fee to view. Visitors can walk freely into the courtyard area facing the facade and look up toward the window ledge where it rests.
Monks may have first placed the object to receive supplies through the window and avoid paying Ottoman entrance fees. Today it remains as a symbol of the complex relationships between the Christian communities inside the building.
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