Fatimid desecration of Jerusalem

The Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre 1009 refers to the destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, churches, synagogues, torah scrolls and other religious artifacts and buildings in and around Jerusalem, which was ordered on 28 September 1009. by the Fatmid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, known as the "mad Caliph" or "Nero of Islam".

At Easter in 1008, Al-Hakim started tightening controls on religious freedoms in Jerusalem, forbidding Christians from making their annual Palm Sunday procession from Bethany.

On 29 September 1009, Al-Hakim ordered a governor or Ramla called Yarukh to demolish the area around Constantine's original Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Yarukh, along with his son Yusuf, Al-Husayn ibn Zahir al-Wazzan and Abu'l-Farawis Al-Dayf were among those who started destroying various buildings. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was said to be built on the site of the Calvary or Golgotha where Jesus was alleged to have been crucified, over a rock-cut room that Helena and Macarius identified as the location of the resurrection. The destruction was chronicled by Yahya ibn Sa'id of Antioch who noted it "cast down as far as the foundations" and the rock cut tomb was demolished in the attempt to "cause all trace of it to disappear". All sacred remains and holy relics were "completely annihilated". Iron hammers were ineffectual against the bedrock foundations of the tomb, so they resorted to burning it with fire.

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Wikipedia