The Church or Basilica of the Agony is a Roman Catholic Church located on the Mount of Olives in East Jerusalem, next to the Garden of Gethsemane. It is also called the Church of All Nations. It enshrines a section of bedrock where Jesus is said to have prayed before his arrest. (Mark 14:32–42)
The church was built on the foundations of the two earlier ones. A 4th-century Byzantine basilica was destroyed by an earthquake in 746, and a small 12th-century Crusader chapel had been abandoned in 1345.
In 1920, during work on the foundations, a column was found two meters beneath the floor of the medieval crusader chapel. Fragments of a magnificent mosaic were also found. Following this discovery, the architect immediately stopped the works of the new foundation and began excavations on the earlier church.
After re arranging the remains of the old Byzantine church they started the work of the new basilica from 19 April 1922 till June 1924, the time of its consecration.
An arson attack took place on the church in December 2020, but not much damage has been caused. The Custody of the Holy Land, the official custodian of Catholic holy sites in Israel and Palestine, condemned the arson attack on the church, which has been a Christian holy site.
The church was built between 1919 and 1924 using funds donated from many different countries so that it is also called the Church of All Nations. The coat-of-arms of twelve of the countries, from which donations came, are incorporated into the ceiling, each in a separate, small dome, and also into the interior mosaics. The countries honored in this way are, east to west (altar to entrance) and beginning with the northern apse: Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico; in the middle of the church are commemorated: Italy, France, Spain and the United Kingdom, and to the right: Belgium, Canada, Germany, and the United States of America. The mosaics in the apses were donated by Ireland, Hungary, and Poland (by the sculptures Tadeusz Adam Zieliński). The crown around the bedrock itself was a gift of Australia. ”
Two types of stone were used in the construction of the church. For the interior work, were used stone from the quarries at Lifta, north-west of Jerusalem; and the exterior, a rose colored stone from Bethlehem. Alabaster panels dyed violet were used for the windows to evoke a mood of depression analogous to Christ’s agony, and the ceiling is painted a deep blue to simulate a night sky.
The church was designed by an Italian architect, Antonio Barluzzi, and is currently held in trust by the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land.