At the base of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem is a Crusader church said to mark the Tomb of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus. Centered around a quarried-out tomb that may well date from the first century, the cave church is festooned with hanging lamps and highly atmospheric. The lower church at the bottom of the stairs is a Byzantine (5th-century) crypt, partly hewn out of rock and featuring original Byzantine masonry. The area is dimly lit and the walls are blackened with centuries of smoke, giving the place an air of great antiquity. The room is opulantly decorated with icons and a forest of hanging lanterns. There is a built apse to the west and a longer rock-cut apse to the east, in which Mary's tomb is marked by a small square chapel. It is quite similar to her son's tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. The altar inside the tomb conceals the remains of a bench tomb that may date from the 1st century. A niche south of the tomb is a mihrab indicating the direction of Mecca, installed when Muslims had joint rights to the church. Altars of the Greeks and Armenians also share the east apse; an Ethiopian altar and cistern occupies the west apse.