Gezicht op westelijke ingang van de Heilig Grafkerk in Jeruzalem before 1865

This photogravure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was created by James McDonald in the late 19th century, a time when photography was transforming how the West saw the Holy Land. Consider how the Church, revered as the site of Jesus's crucifixion and resurrection, is framed through the lens of a Western photographer, McDonald. The inclusion of a local figure seated near the entrance subtly emphasizes the contrast between Western observation and local presence. Made during a period of intense colonial and religious interest in the region, the photograph participates in a broader cultural project of documenting and, in some sense, possessing the Holy Land through visual representation. To fully appreciate this work, one might explore the photographic practices of the era and the intertwined histories of religious pilgrimage, colonial expansion, and the emerging technologies that shaped our understanding of different cultures. The meaning of this image lies not just in what it shows, but in how it positions both the subject and the viewer within a complex web of social, religious, and political contexts.