Why was the Church of the Holy Sepulchre built?

Why did a Roman Emperor order the building of a Christian Church?

Constantine the Great, the so-called first Christian Roman Emperor, came to power during a tumultuous time in the life of the Roman Empire. The night before a decisive battle against a rival Roman leader, Constantine reportedly had a vision of the cross and heard a voice say, "In this sign will you conquer." The next day, at the battle of Milvian Bridge, his rival fell off the bridge and drowned. Constantine credited his victory to the God of Christianity. 

At great expense and political cost, Constantine brought reforms to bring relief to the Jewish people and Christians throughout the empire. Constantine reversed previous edits forbidding Christianity and supported building many prominent churches—including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Why is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre important to Christianity? 

Constantine established churches on several revered sites in the holy land. His first project was the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. However, establishing a church at the location of the resurrection was problematic. In the early second century, Emperor Hadrian ordered the building of a temple to honor Venus or Aphrodite on the site—likely to discourage Christians from making pilgrimages to the area. Constantine ordered the temple destroyed and the debris removed.

Emperor Constantine's conversion to Christianity may have had some political overtones, but his desire to encourage and facilitate Christian worship was sincere. In the 320's, Constantine commissioned his mother, Helena, and the Church Patriarch Marcarius, to visit Jerusalem and identify the locations of Calvary and the tomb of Jesus. Their trip coincided with workers removing the last of the temple debris, making it possible to see signs of the tomb's entrance. On Helena's report, Constantine moved to establish a church to venerate the sites associated with the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. 

How old is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre?                                                           

The church has a storied history. Dedicated in 335, it quickly became the most prominent church in the world and remained so for centuries. The church was damaged by fire when Persian armies sacked Jerusalem in 614 but rebuilt by Emperor Heraclius in 630. Though the region was under Muslim control for the next millennia, with a few notable exceptions, a reverence for the church allowed it to remain unharmed.  

Major renovation projects occurred in 1024, 1048, 1545, and 1719. In 1808, the church was damaged by arson—a global effort by Orthodox believers coordinated repairs. Significant renovation work occurred in the 1990s—refinements are ongoing.

Is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre Catholic?

The term Catholic means universal; in that sense, the Church of the Holy Spulchre is of universal importance and belongs to all, just as Jesus came and died for all.

Under the Status Quo decree of 1757, Ottoman leaders declared the Greek Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church, and Armenian Church shared ownership of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The 1856 Treaty of Paris expanded ownership rights to include Catholic, Greek-Orthodox, Armenians, Copts, Assyrians, and Ethiopian Christian groups.

Today the church is primarily administered by the Confraternity of the Holy Sepulchre (Greek Orthodox), the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land (Catholic), and the Brotherhood of St James (Armenian Orthodox).