Today visitors to Capernaum are impressed by the white limestone remains of an ancient synagogue.
Archaeological excavations indicate that this synagogue was built over the remains of an earlier synagogue dating from the time of Jesus. Thus we can say with some measure of confidence that this is the place where Jesus healed the demon-possessed man (Mark 1:21-28) and preached the sermon on the bread of life (John 6:25-59).
Visitors may not be aware that the synagogue did not survive in this condition since ancient times.
The photograph below shows what the synagogue looked like in the early 1900s. The staircase in the foreground of the photo below is on the far right (middle) of the photo above.
The second photograph is one of 600 high-resolution images in the new Northern Palestine CD, volume 1 of The American Colony and Eric Matson Collection. Photo: Library of Congress, LC-matpc-10654.
