Bell Caves


Useful Information

Location: Bet Guvrin National Park.
From Kiryat Gat east.
(31.596961, 34.900647)
Open: OCT to MAR daily 8-16.
APR to SEP daily 8-17.
[2023]
Fee: Adults NIS 28, Children NIS 14, Student NIS 24, Israeli Senior NIS 14.
Groups: Adults NIS 24, Children NIS 12.
[2023]
Classification: SubterraneaRock Mine
Light: not necessary
Dimension:  
Guided tours: self guided
Photography: allowed
Accessibility: no
Bibliography:  
Address: Bet Guvrin National Park, Tel: +972-8-6811020. E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.
Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

4th century BC first caves dug.
6th-7th century AD again caves dug.
~1000 caves dug.
2014 inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Description

The Caves of Bet Govrin or Caves of Bet Gouvrin, are located at the site of the ancient town of Bet Govrin. There is a large amount of artificial caves which were first dug in the 4th century B.C. There are 800 cool, bell-shaped caves, the entrances camouflaged by cacti and fig trees. Rambo III with Sylvester Stallone was filmed here.

Today the caves are generally called Bell Caves because of their characteristic shape. They are rather big, 12 to 25 meters in height. Most caves have an elliptical cross-section with a span of up to 40 m. The soft chalk is covered by a thin layer of hard limestone, which is the reason why the chalk was quarried underground. In most parts the cave ceiling is rather thin and so some caves already collapsed. At the moment the Civil Engineering Dept. at the Technion is analyzing the situation in order to stabilize the caves.

Originally there was a town called Maresha, which was populated since old biblical times. It was located on the top of Tel Maresha hill. When Sidonians and Greeks came to Maresha, they started to hew the first caves. The purpose of the caves was to provide soft limestone, which was used for construction, so actually they were quarries. 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 later replaced by Bet Govrin, which was renamed Eleutheropolis by the Romans. During Roman times an amphitheater was built in the northwestern part of Bet Govrin. The town was populated during the Byzantine era, and during the 6th and 7th century again large caves were dug. The Crusaders restored a number of churches here, among them the church of St. Anne.