This place is the traditional site of the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes and also the site of the 4th resurrection appearance of the Jesus. Tabgha is located northwest shore of the sea of Galilee. Two churches were built here, the Church of the mulitiplication and the Church of the Primacy of St. Peter.
In 1981, after further excavations, the church was finally restored by German Benedictines to its Byzantine form, incorporating portions of the original mosaics.
Today, the church and surrounding land are property of the German Association of the Holy Land whose head is the Archbishop of Cologne.
The floor mosaic dated from the Byzantine period.
The Church of the Multiplication.
The Byzantine mosaic on the floor of the church.
The mosaic of the fish and loaves is laid next to a large rock, which has caused some New Testament scholars to speculate that the builders of the original church believed that Jesus stood on this rock when he blessed the fish and loaves just before the feeding of the crowd who had come to hear him.
The courtyard.
The Church of the Primacy of St. Peter is a Franciscan church located in Tabgha, Israel, on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee. It commemorates Jesus' reinstatement of Peter as chief among the Apostles.
The church contains a projection of limestone rock in front of the present altar which is venerated as a "Mensa Christi", Latin for table of Christ.
According to tradition this is the spot where Jesus is said to have laid out a breakfast of bread and fish for the Apostles, and told Peter to "Feed my sheep" after the miraculous catch, the third time he appeared to them after his resurrection.
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