WHS#64

One of the highlights of my May 2018 Holy Land trip was an obscure National Park almost an hour south of Jerusalem. Maresha - Bet Guvrin National Park is home to a huge variety of manmade caves that together form, in my opinion, one of the most interesting archaeological ensembles in the world. It's recommended to have private transportation around the park, as I did, as it's quite a large area. This is not a normal tourist stop mostly because it doesn't really have any biblical or even historic significance, but a visit here is almost sure to impress.

The first part of my visit was to the ancient city of Maresha. Well, I didn't exactly see an ancient city, I'll tell you that. Instead, I had to climb a hill, which I believe was the tel, to get to the excavated caves. The caves I encountered were columbariums - caves used for raising pigeons with little niches in the wall. Indeed, I walked down and saw a huge cavern, almost like a giant catacomb or beehive, with little holes all over the walls. While the caves aren't being used by man anymore, they're still used by the avian inhabitants, as evidenced by ever-so-subtle scent of guano. And the birds flying around, of course. These columbariums seem to come in different shapes, with one being quite boxy or compartment-like and another like a bell cave. I hear there are also other types of caves in Maresha, but the columbariums were impressive enough in their own right to justify a visit. At least they were for me, as I never really found the other caves. Apparently, less people make it to Maresha than more popular, but still relatively unknown Bet Guvrin, so there really isn't much of a tourist crowd here.

Moving on to Bet Guvrin, you'll pass scenic hillsides with the occasional ruin, such as the Crusader Church of St. Anne. The Sidonian Burial Caves are the most crowded with tourists, maybe because they're quite small, but I actually saw a couple of tourist buses in the parking lot. Entering the caves, it's the artworks that draws attention. The colors and details are so vivid for their age of over 2 millenia, as these caves date back to the Hellenistic Period of the Middle East. Various animals, plants, accessories, and people of the time are portrayed, so they provide a clear look a the past. Next up, the Bell Caves are probably the most outright impressive caves in the area. They look like natural wonders, but they were actually carved from above by people until they met to form a huge complex of white chalk caverns. Lastly, I decided to check out the Roman ruins across the highway. It's impressively home to the only amphitheatre I saw on the trip, though it's no Colosseum or El Jem. Bet Guvrin probably has the more diverse collection of attractions between the 2 ancient cities.

Together, Maresha and Bet Guvrin, by virtue of their geology of soft carvable chalk allowed its various peoples throughout history to create a rich collection of caves that's unparalleled in the world for their impressiveness and diversity in age, purpose, and creative methods. I don't have any other site in the world to compare it to, and that's why I think it's among the most unique cultural WHS in the world, and the most unique site in Israel. Don't miss out on these caves, each one has its own charm, and together, they tell the untold story of this part of the world.