The Roman Catholic Church Ecce Homo Church meaning in Latin “Behold the man,” is located in the heart of the historic Old City of Jerusalem on the famous Via Dolorosa. Thousands of Christian pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land each year walk right beneath its arch, and not realize the remains from first-century Jerusalem. All Jerusalem renowned holy land sites are within easy walking distance and Ecce Homo itself is a location revered by Christians for its importance in the Passion of Jesus.

The Church of the Flagellation is a Franciscan complex which includes a monastery located in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, and is adjacent to the Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross. The site is traditionally marked as the place where the Roman soldiers flogged Jesus after he was convicted and sentenced to death by crucifixion (John 19:17-19).

The Church of the Condemnation and Imposition of the Cross is located in a Franciscan compound at Station 2 of the Via Dolorosa. This is the location which in tradition, Christian pilgrims to the Holy Land commemorate as the site where Jesus took up his cross after being sentenced to crucifixion (John 19:16). This belief was based on the discovery of a large Roman pavement stones, which are described in the Bible as part of Pilate’s judgment seat for the condemnation of Jesus. 

As long as Christian pilgrims have been traveling and visiting the Holy City of Jerusalem, they have been walking where Jesus walked along the last path on the “Via Dolorosa,” and for the last 1,000 years it is the exact path that is walked today in the Old City. With time, sacred past stories became revered landmarks – known today as the Stations of the Cross.