Bet Govrin caves

Bet Govrin is a large national park, which encompasses the sites of an ancient agricultural settlement of Maresha, ancient town of Bet Govrin, and many, many caves.

Maresha, which was populated since old biblical times, stood on the top of Tel Maresha hill. In 4th century B.C., many Sidonians and Greeks came to Maresha, and first caves were hewn.

The primary purpose of the caves was to provide soft limestone, which was used for construction. But later the bell-shaped hollow space of the caves was used for water reservoirs, store rooms, olive presses, burials and pigeon breeding.

The settlement of Maresha was replaced by Bet Govrin, later renamed Eleutheropolis by the Romans. A Roman amphitheater was discovered in the northwestern part of Bet Govrin, together with some other ruins from the period. The town was populated during Byzantine rule, large caves were dug in 6-7 centuries A.D. The Crusaders restored a number of churches here, among them the church of St Anne.

We entered Bet Govrin from the highway leading eastwards from Kiryat Gat. It should be noted that there are many other bell-shaped artificial caves in the area, some of them very large. See Hazan caves and Luzit caves.