(CNN)It's one of Christianity's holiest sites -- the burial chamber where Jesus Christ is believed to have been entombed. Now following nine months of meticulous restoration, it's reopened to the devoted.
Situated in the heart of the Christian quarter in Jerusalem's Old City, much-needed repairs were conducted to the Edicule, a small limestone and marble structure built on the site identified in the 4th century as Jesus' final resting place following his crucifixion.
The ambitious project was overseen by the World Monuments Fund (WMF) while Antonia Moropoulou of the National Technical University of Athens led an interdisciplinary team of specialists and masons who carried out the work.
It was unveiled to the public on Wednesday.
The conservators, who worked mostly at night so as not to impact the Christian faithful from praying at the holy site, fixed underlying masonry before returning displaced stone blocks to their original positions, securing them with titanium anchors, according to Moropoulou.
"We consolidated the holy rock. We opened the tomb of Christ in order to protect it from the infection of grout. Then we reinstalled the stone slabs after inserting joints of titanium," Moroloulou said on Monday.
As part of the restoration project, members of the National Technical University of Athens removed steel girders which had encased the shrine for the past 70 years.
A worshipper prays inside the Edicule surrounding Jesus' tomb.
"I wanted people to come together to preserve this holy site which is so important to all religions. Its restoration is extraordinary," she said in a press statement.
WMF says a second phase of restoration is due to begin over the next year to ensure "long-term structural stability of the Edicule and to prevent damage from moisture from recurring the future."
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