IThe mount
The Mount of Beatitudes
In Galilee, at the heart of the Mount of Beatitudes, overlooking the Sea of Galilee.
Where is it?
In Galilee
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By ancient Korazim
The Center rises around ancient Korazim, about a kilometre from its ruins. Here, according to local tradition, stand “the trees of the blessing”, near the summit of the mountain known as the Mount of Beatitudes.
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Beside the Via Maris
It lies right beside the road that once linked Damascus with Galilee through Korazim and Capernaum: the “Via Maris”, one of the great roads built by the Romans, which ran along the shore of the lake.
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From the Jordan to Hermon
From the place of the blessed trees, on the Mount of Beatitudes, one enjoys an uninterrupted view of the whole Lake of Tiberias, of the Jordan and even of Mount Hermon.
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Among the holy places
At the heart of the Mount of Beatitudes, surrounded by holy places: the ruins of Korazim, Bethsaida, Capernaum, the Primacy of Peter, the monastery of the Multiplication of the Loaves, Magdala, Tiberias and the tomb of the prophet Habakkuk.
Nearby holy places
Around the Domus
- 01Church of the BeatitudesThe Sermon on the MountDirectionsMt 5–7
- 02TabghaThe multiplication of the loaves and fishesDirectionsMk 6:30–44
- 03Primacy of Peter“Feed my sheep”DirectionsJn 21:15–17
- 04CapernaumThe town of Jesus and the house of PeterDirectionsMk 1:21–34
- 05KorazimTown where Jesus preachedDirectionsMt 11:21
- 06BethsaidaHome town of Peter, Andrew and PhilipDirectionsJn 1:44
- 07MagdalaHome town of Mary MagdaleneDirectionsLk 8:2
- 08TiberiasTown on the shore of the lakeDirectionsJn 6:23
Der makir · the monastery of the beatitude
The trees blessed by the Messiah
The Bedouin identified a group of thousand-year-old trees as es-sajarat el-mubarakat, “the trees blessed by the Messiah” (Issa). These three two-thousand-year-old trees, a terebinth, a holm oak and a Christ's thorn, stood on the property where Domus Galilaeae Monastery now rises, and were venerated as a memorial of the Messiah's presence. In 1913 a Bedouin cut down two of them, which caused outrage among the Bedouin and led to the sale of the land to the Custody. Today only the terebinth remains.
The area of the blessed trees was called der makir, which recalls the Greek makarios, blessed: “the monastery of the beatitude”, where according to Bedouin traditions there was a monastery of hermits.