The controversial project to restore Jesus' supposed tomb received a major boost on Tuesday as the World Monuments Fund (WMF) announced it would donate $1.3m towards the work.
The donation will allow the project on the Edicule, or chamber, in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem to begin immediately after more than 50 years of arguments. The gift from Mica Ertegun, the widow of Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun, goes a long way towards the total amount of $3.4m needed to complete the project.
It plans to restore the chamber built above the place Jesus's body is believed to have been buried. The restoration will be the first time in two centuries that work has been done on the site.
Decades of arguments between the six Christian denominations that control the site have caused a series of delays which means the most sacred monument is largely in ruins.
The chamber had become so precarious that last year the Antiquities Authority of Israel declared it unsafe and the site was closed briefly.
In March the Coptic, Ethiopian, Syria and Greek Orthodox, Catholic and Armenian churches finally agreed on a plan to restore the site. The work will see the marble slabs around the chamber removed, the 12th century shrine inside repaired and the cracks in the rock tomb filled.
Fights between the six Christian communities have sometimes involved physical violence as each guards its rights over the site ferociously. Such is the mistrust that the keys to the Church have been kept by a Muslim family since the 12th century.
His Beatitude Patriach Theophilos III of Jerusalem welcomed the donation and thanked Ertegun for allowing the work to begin.
"The Holy Sepulchre is the most sacred monument of Christianity. The resurrection of Christ from the tomb is the foundation of our faith, and Christians throughout the world revere this place for its spiritual importance," he said.
"Jewish, Christians, and Muslims alike come to Jerusalem to visit at the tomb of Christ. The restoration of the Edicule is of primary importance."
Mica Ertegun said: "I am pleased to be the lead donor for the restoration of the Edicule and to help in the restoration of this sacred place of worship for people of many faiths."
