The Catholic Church of the Flagellation in the homonymous Franciscan monastery stands on the Via Dolorosa - exactly where, according to legend, the Roman soldiers beat Jesus. The evangelist Mark tells it this way: "Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and they put on him a purple robe, and said, Hail, King of the Jews! and they struck him with their hands "(Mark 19: 1-3). But just smashing it did not stop - in the Roman Empire before the crucifix was made to castigate convicted by special whips with pieces of metal. They cause pain and tearing wild flesh, which led to a large loss of blood.

Opposite the Monastery of the Flagellation is the first station of the Cross, which are Christian pilgrims in the memory of the Passion of Christ. Tradition suggests that here, on the site of the present school Al Omariyya was Pretoria, the seat of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, in which he questioned Jesus. The excavations, however, have shown that in fact there was praetorian south of the Jaffa Gate - and hence flagellation going on there. But the pilgrims coming to the church of the Flagellation, do not think of a specific geographic location - they focus on the experiences of the sufferings of Christ.

The church is located on the right side, the eastern part of the small courtyard of the monastery, which come directly from the Via Dolorosa (the left side in the same courtyard stands the church of conviction). In the XII century on the site was a temple, built by the Crusaders. In 1839, on its ruins the King of Bavaria, Maximilian IV built a chapel. During Ottoman times it was used first as a barn, then as housing.

In 1927-29 years the famous "Architect of the Holy Land" Antonio Barluchchi reconstructed the original temple. The medieval style of the building is emphasized dull facade to the entrance, decorated in the spirit of the Crusaders. The church is small, and the stronger the impression of three magnificent stained-glass windows in the chancel of made by the Italian artist Duilio Kambellotti. On the left stained glass window depicts a gloomy Pilate washing his hands, on the right - joy Barabbas, who was released instead of Jesus, in the center of the - Jesus in a crown of thorns, surrounded by the raging crowd.

The motives of the crown of thorns, the soldiers who laid on the head of Christ in mockery, there are still at the entrance to the church, the relief over the door. Inside, the visitor should definitely raise his head, he saw a golden dome mosaic depicting a huge crown of thorns with blood - a reminder of the suffering God.