Thousands of Christian pilgrims and members of the clergy gathered at a modest shrine in Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday to celebrate the completion of a monthslong effort, hundreds of years in the making: the restoration and repair of Jesus’ tomb.

The shrine, known as the edicule and in danger of collapse, had been propped up by an unsightly iron cage since the 19th century. Constructed by the Roman emperor Constantine I in the fourth century, the shrine covers the cave in which, the faithful believe, Jesus was buried before his resurrection.

The edifice, contained in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, is one of the faith’s holiest sites. It was worn down by centuries of water damage, fire, candle smoke, humidity, bird droppings, human visitors and disputes among feuding denominations, which were previously unable to agree on plans to fix the shrine.