Page "Church of the Holy Sepulchre" Paragraph 10

According to tradition, Constantine arranged for the rockface to be removed from around the tomb, without harming it, in order to isolate the tomb ; in the centre of the rotunda is a small building called the Kouvouklion ( Kουβούκλιον ; Modern Greek for small compartment ) or Aedicule ( from Latin: aediculum, small building ), which supposedly encloses this tomb, although it is not currently possible to verify the claim, as the remains are completely enveloped by a marble sheath.

The discovery of the kokhim tombs just beyond the west end of the Church, and more recent archaeological investigation of the rotunda floor, suggest that a narrow spur of at least ten yards length would have had to jut out from the rock face if the contents of the Aedicule were once inside it.

The dome of the rotunda was completed by the end of the 4th century.