On 14 January 1546 CE (Julian calendar), at about noon, a powerful earthquake struck Jerusalem. Contemporary accounts consistently emphasize the scale of destruction within the city, including damage to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. According to a Letter by an Anonymous Venetian, “the vault of the Holy Tomb sunk". A Spanish account known as News of 46 reports that the earthquake “knocked down the dome on the Holy Sepulcher.” This dome, crowning the Anastasis rotunda, was a dominant architectural feature of the complex; its fall implies either total collapse or severe structural failure of the superstructure and drum. A Greek tradition preserved by Germanus of Jerusalem states that “the cupola of the copper tower of the belfry of the Holy Sepulchre fell on the nearby Church of the Resurrection and caused the collapse of its dome.” The description clearly refers to the bell tower attached to the church. Independent confirmation comes from an Anonymous Greek Document, which records that “the top of the beautiful bell-tower… fell.” The collapse of this copper-clad cupola and upper tower section is also visually supported by the post-earthquake drawings associated with Voldřich Prefát, which depict the bell tower truncated and without its former dome after the earthquake.

Hebrew sources further intensify the picture. The Unknown Source in Ot Nafshi states that the Holy Sepulchre “fell,” language that may reflect the collapse of major elements such as domes and vaulting rather than total structural annihilation. The description of “severe damage” in a piyyut composed by Moshe Meali confirms that the complex sustained heavy impact.

Broader urban effects frame this ecclesiastical destruction. Eliezer Sussman notes that many towers fell and that aftershocks continued, leaving inhabitants in “constant fear… all day and night.” The Anonymous Continuator of Mujir Al-Din records subsequent shocks in March and May 1546, suggesting a prolonged seismic sequence. These continued tremors may have exacerbated instability within already-damaged masonry, including the compromised domes and tower elements of the Holy Sepulchre.

Ottoman repair documents from the later 1540s and early 1550s indicate that restoration of Christian buildings in Jerusalem, including cupolas and chapels of the Holy Sepulchre, required official permission and extended over several years. Although some uncertainty remains regarding attribution of specific repairs, the cumulative textual and visual evidence indicates that the 1546 earthquake caused: (1) subsidence of the vault over the Holy Tomb, (2) collapse of the principal dome, (3) fall of the bell tower’s copper-clad cupola, and (4) secondary destruction to adjacent domed structures within the Resurrection complex.