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BILL SCHLEGEL/BIBLEPLACES.COM

WRONG HOUSE? Following the 1920s explorations by Gaudenzio Orfali, Christian pilgrims have been visiting the octagonal church at Capernaum (now covered by a shelter evident in this photo) as the memorial church that some medieval accounts say was built over the house of St. Peter. Under this fifth-century church lay the remains of a fourth-century house church, which itself rests on the ruins of a village house dated to the first century CE. The church’s architectural style, however, does not seem to match the early pilgrimage accounts, making the basilica found at El-Araj a better candidate for the church that Byzantine Christians memorialized as the house of Peter at Bethsaida.