Bet Guvrin Travel Guide

 gubbi1 Says:  Leaving or coming to Bet Guvrin NP you should also stop for the Crusader Church and the closeby amphitheater.Attached to the Crusader Church you will find the Fortress of the Crusaders. It is accessible through a small passage in the wall of the church. The fortress was... 

 gubbi1 Says:  Leaving or coming to Bet Guvrin NP you should also stop for the Crusader Church and the closeby amphitheater.The Crusader Church is attached to a fortress and was built by the Hospitallers. Even though it has Roman and Byzantine architectural elements, it is a typical... 

 gubbi1 Says:  Beside some arabic inscriptions you will also find several christian symbols on the walls. Some look like that the places were used for religious purposes. Unfortunately there are no signs regarding the history of these inscriptions, but maybe nothing is known.Get to the... 

 gubbi1 Says:  In the Bell Caves you will see several inscriptions on the walls that are very old. Some of them are high up on the walls, some quite easily reachable.One inscription shows the word 'Allah' in arabic. A sign will show you the place.Get to the Parks webpage here... 

 gubbi1 Says:  The second complex of the Bell Caves is accessible and will amaze you with its size. Before arriving here I though the Bell Caves are smaller holes in the ground of maybe 4 or five meters in height and maybe 4 meters wide, but I haven't imagined such huge structures in which... 

 gubbi1 Says:  There are two main complexes of Bell Caves here in the park. The first complex is not as accessible as the second, but already gives an idea of the massive size of these ancient lime stone quarries. For much of this complex the access is blocked due to the stability of the... 

 gubbi1 Says:  The Bell caves can be visited on a roundwalk that leads you through a beautiful landscape formed by rocks of lime stone. The footpath starts at the parking of the Bell Caves. The landscape itself (probably almost completely former lime stone quarries) is worth to come here.... 

 gubbi1 Says:  In the center of the area of ancient Maresha you will find the Tel, a fortified mountain. There are ruins of towers and protective walls. On the Tel you have a great view over the region towards the Hebron Mountains. Like much in the park also these structures date back to... 

 gubbi1 Says:  The Garden Cave is a combination of a cave with a yard in which you will find fruit plants. Unfortunately this cave has no desciption on the flyer that is handed out when entering the park. You will not be able to enter the cave, but walk through the inner yard. Have a look... 

 gubbi1 Says:  Originally the church was named with the latin name 'Santa Anna', which was mispronounced 'Sandahanna' in Arabic. This became the Arabic name of the ancient Maresha in Arabic. The church was built during the Byzantine periode and later renovated by the crusaders, but as you... 

 gubbi1 Says:  Not only during the life people used their caves, but also for the dead there were caves in which they got burried. The formally beautifully decorated Sidonian Burial Caves have several tomb niches. In one of the two caves (item 8) many paintings and an inscription have been... 

 gubbi1 Says:  The most impressive caves in ancient Maresha are in my opinion hidden at the item 7 of the parks sites. It is a whole underground system of rooms and cisterns with a columbarium and an olive oil plant. The path you follow leads through small openings and iron bridges through... 

 gubbi1 Says:  The Dwelling House are ruins of a building that was used as dwelling and trade place in the Hellenistic Periode. Originally it had two floors. Below you can descent to the cisterns, which you will surely find impressive due to their size. Walking through them you will pass... 

 gubbi1 Says:  The Bath Cave consists of two small rooms in which people could take a shower. A hole in the wall with a small channel transports the water from a neighboring room into the shower. This allows to keep distance between the bather and the person taking the shower. It is... 

 gubbi1 Says:  In cave 5 you will find an olive oil plant. Olive oil was a major income source in the ancient town of Maresha. About 22 olive oil plants have been discovered in Mareshas underground sofar. It is quite impressive to see what people have constructed into these caves.Get to... 

 gubbi1 Says:  Pigeons were an important good in the ancient times. They supplied meat, eggs and fertilizer (dung), but were also used for religious purposes. To keep them, columbariums were built giving space to them to lay eggs and to bring up their small ones. The Columbarium Cave with... 

 gubbi1 Says:  This cave received its name as during the Second World War in 1943 Polish soldiers visited the place and cut the words 'Warsaw, Poland' with the Polish eagle into a pillar of the cave. Originally the cave was a water cistern made during the 4th to 3rd century, then later... 

 iblatt Says:  The ancient city of Beit Guvrin existed between the late-Hellenistic period and the late-Byzantine period. The ruins are located within the Beit-Guvrin - Maresha National Park.The Bell-shaped caves are man-made quarries, dug during the Byzantine and early Islamic periods.... 

 Bregman Says:  This national park has hundreds of caves, some used for human dwellings 3000 years ago. For centuries, the locals took advantage of the soft chalk rock in the area and dug hundreds of caves for different uses such as: storage, burial place, columbarium, shelter, etc.Nowadays...