Everything Everywhere Daily · Friday, September 11, 2026
The exact origin of the ladder outside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre is unknown, but it was present by the early 18th century. Its immovability became critical after Ottoman authorities began to link existing physical arrangements to established rights, meaning altering the ladder's position could trigger disputes.
“Nobody knows with certainty who first put it there or precisely why.”
“When Ottoman authorities began defining who possessed which rights inside the church, the basic principle increasingly became that existing physical arrangements were evidence of those rights.”
“So doing something as trivial as moving a ladder could potentially become a property dispute, which could then erupt into religious conflict.”