The Sacred Fire of Jerusalem records the celebration of Easter in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. It is at this site that many Christians believe Christ died, was buried and then resurrected. Tended by Catholics, Armenians, Coptics and the Greek Orthodox, the shrine was first built by Helena, mother of Constantine the Great, in 335 A.D. Destroyed by Persian and Egyptian invaders, it was restored to its present day structure by the Crusaders in the 12th century. Every Easter the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church enters the tomb of Christ, lighting it from within, and the pilgrims light their candles as a reaffirmation of their faith. The shaft of light which emanates from the dome represents the Holy Spirit and enhances the dramatic effect of the painting.

This major work by the artist captured this ceremony when visiting Palestine in 1898. In fact, Girardet was so taken with this image that he painted two versions, one now lost. A student of Jean-Léon Gérôme, who advocated travel to the Orient, Girardet had made several trips to Morocco and Algeria by 1877, when he visited Tunisia. These excursions were more than a gathering of images for his paintings, for Girardet was drawn to its life style. He came from a tradition of artists and travelers to the Near East. His father Paul engraved scenes from Algerian life, while his uncles Karl and Edouard depicted Egypt. Eugène's work reflected his many visits to the Middle-East, and it was these Orientalist paintings that were shown at the Salon in Paris, exhibited in Berlin and Munich, and collected by museums in France and Switzerland.