UNESCO declared the Beit Guvrin-Maresha National Park in the Judean Lowlands as a World Heritage site yesterday (April 14, 2015), thereby bringing to eight the number of other sites in Israel that hold this distinctive and prestigious certification.

Calling Beit Guvrin a "microcosm of the land of the caves," the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization noted that the site "situated on the crossroads of trade routes to Mesopotamia and Egypt, bears witness to the region's tapestry of cultures and their evolution over more than 2,000 years."

The archeological site contains about 3,500 underground chambers distributed among distinct complexes carved in the thick and homogenous soft chalk of the region.  The quarried caves served as cisterns, oil presses, baths, dovecotes, stables, places of religious worship, hideaways and burial areas.

Today the caves, which are located in the Judean lowlands south of Beit Shemesh and east of Kiryat Gat, host tourists and visitors from all around the world and play host to several musical and cultural events throughout the year.

The other Israeli sites on the list include Masada; the Old City of Acre; the White City of Tel Aviv; the biblical tels of Megiddo, Hatzor, and Beersheba; the incense route of desert cities in the Negev; and Baha’i holy places in Haifa and the Western Galilee.