the immovable ladder famous for being
unmoved throughout hit um uh huh never
mind never mind I've got a whole video
plan about it okay so it's a lot more
complicated than that but to first
explain the immovable ladder our story
must start with the church the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem built initially
in the 4th century but expanded later
over the next 1600 years it is situated
in the Christian water of the wart city
of Jerusalem this is why the church is a
church and not a mosque synagogue or
whatever the hell Armenians called their
places of worship it's also not far from
the dome on the rock it's two iconic
domes that each centered on the tomb of
Jesus Christ the one that spoiled us
turns out to be empty and also the rock
of cavalry or the rock of Golgotha on
which the same Jesus was crucified
so I'd note the whole thing's built into
the side of a hill so the cave soon
became a courtyard anyway as a result of
it is one of the most sacred places in
the whole of the Christian religion and
as a result of that it is jointly owned
by six of the major Christian sects as
it would be unfair for only one to have
this sacred site they are the Greek
Orthodox Church Roman Catholic Church
you know the one the Pope as well as the
Armenian Apostolic Church Syriac
Orthodox Church Coptic Orthodox and
Ethiopian Orthodox churches you might
immediately think of it like Antarctica
where it is divided into sections and
their sects control their section after
all this is kind of how Jerusalem is to
bird it isn't that simple to summarize
everyone owns everything the ownership
is shared six ways this means that no
one from outside the six orders and also
no individual from inside the six orders
can alter anything inside the church
unless all six orders agree to it and
bear in mind this is religion so that's
not a thing that's going to happen in
late 2008 a monk from the Coptic
Orthodox Church was sitting on chair in
on the roof as you do the monk made the
unfortunate mistake of moving a chair
which was community owned by the six
orders about twenty centimeters or less
than
but to sit in the shade and nearby
individual from the Ethiopian Orthodox
Church all this and soon the argument
had spiraled into a full-on fistfight
between the six orders a hundred plus
religious officials were just brawling
inside this holy place after it been
broken up eleven people had to be sent
to hospital and it's not like this is a
rare occurrence it happened again over a
similar reason in 2002 2011 and again in
2013 and I think we're due for another
one which should be fun
look to cut a long story short everyone
is scared to change anything inside the
church at all or face the wrath of
punching monks and this is where the
immovable ladder comes in yes you see
some time in 1757 a Mason was doing some
repair work on a window for him outside
the church all orders agreed with the
restoration so everything was fine but
the Mason left his ladder behind and the
sexts could not agree on how to take it
down since it had to be unanimous
agreement nobody could move it this
state lasted for just over a century at
which point the ruler of the Ottoman
Empire which owned Jerusalem in 1853
Sultan Abdul Majeed the first round
modernize affairs wearing cool-guy gave
an official decree that the church and
everything on it was in it and on it was
common ground that legally could not be
changed by any less than all six sects
which when the ladder was still there
and at that time it applied and was
officially common ground forever
not that the Mason cared he had
definitely died by then as a result it
virtually hasn't moved from that ledge
in the last 150 years and thereby his
cut become his own landmark it also
shows up in all photographs paintings
and written accounts of that window this
is why the immovable ladder is called
the immovable ladder legally no one can
move the ladder with it on their own
without the permission of the six orders
but that hasn't stopped people from
trying when pope john paul ii was almost
assassinated in rome every Christian
institution on earth might have been a
little distracted as a result someone
took the opportunity to steal a local
landmark themselves but they were soon
caught by the Israeli police in the
ladder was returned it was taken again
in 1997 in an ensuing weeks
between the Greek Orthodox and the
Armenian Apostolic churches but so high
it made the Cuban Missile Crisis look
pretty friendly so whoever took it put
it back one night in 2009 someone
shifted the ladder from the right window
where it had always been to the left
maybe so the ledge under it could be
cleaned yeah but nobody has cleaned it
yet and no one is willing to own up to
it due to the serious risk of getting
punched in the face their ladder remains
to this day
so what will happen surprise surprise it
isn't going anywhere
they don't make ladders like they did
back in 1757 and when you combine the
high quality with the hot dry Jerusalem
days to care isn't something that's too
big an issue it's also pretty sheltered
and under the god of several monks so it
should be fine just don't move it