The UNESCO World Heritage Committee, currently meeting in Qatar on Sunday 24 Sivan 5774, by consensus, declared the caves of Beit Guvrin-Maresha to be a World Heritage Site.

This Israeli site will now be included in this prestigious list of extraordinary cultural sites from around the world.

The candidacy of Beit Guvrin-Maresha was extensively prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs along with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, the Israeli World Heritage Committee and others.

This site is the latest addition to the other Israeli sites already listed as part of World Heritage: Tel Aviv White City, Masada, the Biblical Tels, the Incense Route, the Baha’i Holy Shrines in Haifa, the Old City of Acre, and the Nachal Me’arot Nature Reserve, listed in 2012.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)