Near the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Old City is a Russian Orthodox Church housing some of the most interesting archaeological remains in the city.

The archaeologists, who unearthed these ruins in the nineteenth century, identified among them the Judgment Gate, built by Herod the Great, through which Jesus would have passed on the way to Calvary. They also found remnants of an arch and two columns of a pagan shrine built by Emperor Hadrian at the beginning of the second century on the site where Queen Helene, the mother of the first Christian emperor Constantine, later identified Calvary and Jesus’ tomb. Here, Constantine would build the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.

The gate’s threshold has been preserved, along with groves in the middle for locks. Above it, a chapel with unusual stained-glass windows is dedicated to Emperor Alexander III.