Beit She'arim National Park

Beit She'arim is an ancient Jewish necropolis in northern Israel, accessible today as a national park and inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015. The site contains an extensive network of underground catacombs dating from the 2nd to 4th century CE, where Jewish communities from across the Mediterranean world were brought for burial — including Rabbi Judah haNasi, the compiler of the Mishnah. The tomb chambers are decorated with Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew inscriptions alongside reliefs of menorahs, ships, and human figures, making the site a rare window into late antique Jewish visual culture. Systematic excavations began in 1936 under Benjamin Mazar. Visitors today can walk through lit underground passages and view original stone sarcophagi in situ.