Church of the multiplication A church of the Feeding of the Five
Thousand was first built on this site in c.350. The church was
small (15.5m x 9.5m) and on a slightly different orientation
than the later versions. The Spanish pilgrim Egeria visited this
church in the 380s, and reported: “By the sea is a grassy field
with plenty of hay and many palm trees. By them are seven
springs (heptapegon), each flowing strongly. And this is the
field where the Lord fed the people with the five loaves and two
fishes. The church was significantly enlarged around 480 — an
inscription attributes its building to the patriarch Matryrios
(478-86) — which included the addition of the splendid floor
mosaic. The mosaics were repaired in the 6th century and the
church was destroyed around 685 AD. The site was bought by the
Deutsche Verien vom Heilige Lande and excavated in 1932; a
protective cover was built over the mosaics in 1936. In 1982
this was replaced by the modern Church of the Multiplication of
the Loaves and Fishes that s