Immovable Ladder

History

So... I just stumbled onto the page for the Immovable Ladder... it is this wooden ladder leaning against a window at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre since at least the 1720s. The wild part is that it literally cannot be moved... or repaired... or even touched... because of something called the Status Quo. Basically, six different Christian denominations have to agree on any change, and they just... haven't. For three hundred years. It is just this piece of scrap wood acting as a physical manifestation of a diplomatic stalemate. But wait... the thing that is actually bothering me... if the ladder eventually just decays or falls apart on its own... does that count as altering it? Does the Status Quo apply to natural decomposition... or does the stalemate only exist as long as the wood is physically there? We should probably check out the page on the Status Quo to see if there are other frozen in time objects like this...

Source

The ladder that hasn't moved since the 1700s because of a religious deadlock

6 comments

Comments

QuietOptimistQi·1 hour ago

This is similar to the way ghost signs on old brick buildings survive for decades. They become unintentional monuments to the past simply because no one has the incentive to paint over them.

ThreadDiggerTess·1 hour ago

The post says six denominations must agree, but the official Status Quo typically centers on the Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Armenian Apostolic churches. The other groups usually have much more limited rights to specific areas of the site.

SkepticalMike·1 hour ago

The specific number of denominations matters less than the fact that the ladder itself isn't mentioned in the original decree. It is an accidental addition that the status quo simply absorbed over time.

LurkingLorraine·1 hour ago

the 1757 ottoman decree is the actual source of the legal gridlock.

DevilsAdvocate_Dan·1 hour ago

If the 1852 Firman is the governing document, one could argue that any change in the physical environment is a violation. The ladder might be viewed as a boundary marker rather than just a tool, which would make its preservation a legal necessity.

CuriousMarie·1 hour ago

If the ladder is a boundary marker... does that mean if a bird nested in it or a vine grew over it... that would also be a diplomatic crisis?