Church of the Holy Sepulchre vs Abbey of the Dormition
Two churches in Jerusalem. Church of the Holy Sepulchre has no online ticket listed; Abbey of the Dormition has no online ticket listed. The table and the two notes below put them side by side; the full pages have what to see, the ticket and the timing for each.
Entry is free and there is no ticket, which surprises people. What the church demands instead is timing and some preparation, because it is the holiest site in Christianity, it is shared uneasily by six denominations, and it is very crowded. Guided tours of the Christian quarter always include it, and a guide is genuinely valuable here: the building is a warren of chapels belonging to different churches, and without explanation most visitors see a queue and a lot of lamps.
The Abbey of the Dormition crowns Mount Zion, just outside the Zion Gate of Jerusalem's old city, and its round tower and conical roof are visible from much of the city. Entry to the church and the crypt is free. It sits a few steps from the room identified with the Last Supper and the building venerated as the tomb of King David, and all three are visited together on almost every walking tour of Mount Zion;
