During summer-autumn 1997 in conjunction with the restructuring works undertaken at the franciscan church of Cana in Galilee, it was possible to perform an archaeological excavation with the following results:

The Franciscan Chapel of 1881 (in black). It was built by Fr. Aegidius Geissler, the first Latin parish priest of Cana, immediately after the ransom of the sanctuary. The nave of the first church corresponds to the first part of the actual church. The crypt was originlly reached by a stairway through an entrance at the back of the church, which entrance was moved to within the church itself. This new entrance remained in use even after the enlargement of the church (1901) till this day.

The Medieval edifice (XIV cent.?). This was a large hall divided by a row of colums (in green). The edifice is described by the pilgrims of the XVII cent as an ancient church which had fallen under the moslems. The place of the miracle of Jesus was venerated in an underground area. The franciscan chapel partially occupied this edifice re-using its north wall.

A christian funerary edifice (V-VI cent.). Only an apse containing a tomb remains (in red). The apse is oriented towards the north but the tomb lies on the east-west axis, as is common for christian tombs. We found the tomb already opened and partially destroyed and did not contain any human remains. Fr. Geisser had already seen both the tomb and the apse, as one can see from a short note he wrote ( Der Kreuzfahrer Kalender, 6, 1898, p. 68 - reproduced at the end of this report). Basing himself on this find he took care to enlarge the first church giving it its actual shape with three apses in cross like form. The north apse of the actual church lies exactly on the ancient apse. The anomalous orientation of the discovered apse (north instead of east) might have induced Fr. Geissler not to publicize further the discovery, which in fact was completely ignored by all.

A porticoed atrium (V cent.). The well-known aramaic inscription "Blessed be the memory of Yoseh, son of Tanhum..." belonged to the mosaic floor of this atrium. No further remains of the mosaic were discovered but we noticed that the mosaic bed continues all through the area. The atrium, of which we can distinguish two distinct phases (phase 1 in yellow; phase 2 in orange), belongs to a jewish religious building, mainly to a synagogue already identified by Fr. Loffreda in the excavations of 1969 in the courtyard north of the present church. The atrium, which had a columned portico all around, extended under all the medieval edifice and had at its centre a cistern. The aramaic inscription was located by the eastern wall of the atrium.

Remains of dwellings in use between the I and the IV century (in blue). The remains were mainly discovered in the south area of the porticoed atrium (ex-sacristy). The stone basin which was already visible inside the crypt was infixed in a large slabbed floor with traces of plaster. This floor and the stone basin can both be dated to the first century.

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The communique of Fr. Geissler as presented by another person in: Der Kreuzfahrer Kalender , 6 (1898) p. 68 (translation from the original in german)

"The Rev. Fr. Egidius Geissler, founder of the catholic mission in Cana has undertaken the task to bring to its primitive state the ancient sanctuary which rose on the site where our holy Saviour changed water into wine. For this purpose, with the help of benefactors he bought two pieces of land where ruins of a church built by St. Helen lie. The place is behind the actual chapel. After intensive research he was convinced that at that place there should have been the apse of this ancient edifice and the excavations carried out confirmed the exactness of his idea. He found not only the place of the miracle, where he found stone jars and a silo for grain, but also a certain number of pecious archaeological remains: the base of a big column, the capitel of a column and the tomb of Tanchum, a famous jew converted to the christian faith. From the results of the excavations we can conclude that the ancient basilica had three apses, in conformity with the plan of the basilica of Nazareth and of Mount Tabor."

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