Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park

Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park in central Israel encompasses the ruins of Maresha, an important town of Judah from the 8th century BC, and Beit Guvrin (Roman Eleutheropolis). The site contains some 3,500 underground chambers carved into soft chalk, including 800 bell-shaped caves, used as cisterns, oil presses, columbaria (dovecotes), baths, stables, and burial areas across more than 2,000 years of habitation. Archaeological finds include a Roman-Byzantine amphitheatre, a Byzantine church, mosaics, and burial caves. The cave complex was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2014 as the "Caves of Maresha and Bet-Guvrin in the Judean Lowlands".