WRONG-WAY STREET? The Daily Mail gleefully reports that the pilgrim route on the Via Dolorossa in Jerusalem may go in the wrong direction.

Shimon Gibson, a Holy Land specialist, said the traditional start of the Via Dolorosa, north of the Old City, should be at the other end of the city.

Since medieval times, Christians have assumed that the Praetorium, the starting point of the route and the Roman headquarters mentioned in the Gospels as the scene of Jesus's trial, was the Antonia Fortress which stood in the north of Jerusalem.

But Professor Gibson said there was 'no historical basis whatsoever' for this being the site where Jesus was tried and condemned to death by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.

Little of the fortress's structure has survived but, having surveyed the remains of its rock-cut base in intricate detail, he concludes that it could not have been more than a military observation tower.

He said archaeological excavations pointed to the site of the trial being 900 metres away at the remains of a large paved courtyard south-west of Jerusalem, south of the Jaffa Gate.

It was situated between two fortification walls with an outer gate and an inner one leading to barracks where it is most likely that Jesus was held.

The open courtyard contained a platform of around two square metres - details that 'correspond perfectly' with the Gospel of John's account of Pontius Pilate sitting on a judgment-seat at an elevated place.

Professor Gibson, who is based at universities in Israel and America, said: 'The astonishing thing is that thousands of Christian travellers and pilgrims pass by this site without realising its significance.'

But there are no plans to alter the pilgrim route.