RUSSIAN ORTHODOX ARCHBISHOP MARK TAKEN TO TOP OF ST MARY MAGDALENE ONION DOMES, 1999-10-14 (photo)

Russian Orthodox Archbishop Mark, overseer of Holy Land properties for the Russian Orthodox Church, arrives to the top Saint Mary Magdalene church by a special electric ladder October 14. The restoration of the domes and the interior of the church took three years and cost $1.5 million to put the church back into a state that is safe for tourists expected to take part in Millennium events in Jerusalem. The church is next to the Garden of Gethsemane, sacred to Christians as the place where Jesus spent the night before his crucifixion. The church was built in 1887 under Russian Czar Alexander III. JWH