vibeke b01f463e's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
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Kiryat Tiv'on, Israel

Beit She'arim Necropolis

A sprawling ancient Jewish cemetery with over 30 rock-hewn burial caves.
Ein Gedi, Israel

Dead Sea Sinkholes

As the Dead Sea continues to deplete, massive sinkholes open along its banks.
Jerusalem, Israel

Ades Synagogue

This "Jewish Sistine Chapel" was designed to reinvigorate Judaism's artistic legacy but was almost lost to misguided restoration.
Ayelet HaShahar, Israel

Tel Hazor

A Biblically notable site over the ruins of an ancient city that is now a protected World Heritage site.
Ketura, Israel

Judean Date Palm Methuselah

This tree was extinct for a thousand years before sprouting again from a 2,000-year-old seed.
Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

Gan HaGat (Wine Press Garden)

A 2,000-year-old wine press hidden in an overlooked park in Tel Aviv.
Masada, Israel

Masada

This daunting 1st century fortress was purportedly the site of one of the most dramatic revolts of the Jewish-Roman wars.
East Jerusalem, Israel

Western Wall Tunnel

Descend 2,030 years into the past in an ancient tunnel built to support Jerusalem's most famous wall.
Ramla, Israel

Pool of Arches

You can row a boat through this ancient underground reservoir.
Jerusalem, Israel

Razzouk Ink

This family tattoo parlor has been inking religious pilgrims in the Middle East for 700 years.
Jerusalem, Israel

Shrine of the Book

The home of the Dead Sea Scrolls is an abstract modernist dream.
Ashkelon, Israel

Beit Guvrin Caves

These numerous Israeli caves were dug out over hundreds years for reasons ranging from hideouts to burial sites.
Mosul, Iraq

Dair Mar Elia

The oldest Christian monastery in Iraq until ISIS blew it up twice and then drove over it with bulldozers.
Al-Shikhan, Iraq

Aqueduct of Jerwan

The surviving pieces of an ancient aqueduct that may have fed into the lost Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Dokan, Iraq

Qyzqapan Tomb

Ancient rock-cut tomb? Definitely. That of a great Median king? Unlikely.
Amedi, Iraq

Bahdinan Gate

This beautiful arched gate is all that remains of the fortress the ancient mountaintop town of Amadiya once was.
Hillah, Iraq

Babylon

Celebrated as a center of civilization, the remains of the ancient city have been nearly destroyed by greed, egoism, and war.
Al-Shikhan, Iraq

Lalish Temple

The sacred shrine of the Yazidis.
Erbil, Iraq

Erbil Citadel

An ancient fortified mound raised over the millennia from settlements built one on top of the other.
Isfahan, Iran

Vank Cathedral

The cathedral stands in New Jufa, Isfahan's Armenian quarter that was established in 1606.
Qom, Iran

Fatemeh Maasoume Shrine

One of the holiest Shi'i shrines in Iran honors the life and death of a learned noblewoman who became a saint.
Tehran, Iran

Iran Mall

One of the world's largest shopping malls covers an area of 15 million square feet—and it's still set to grow.
Fars Province, Iran

Graffiti at Persepolis

Marked by the hand of the explorer Henry Morton Stanley.
Isfahan, Iran

Khaju Bridge

This 17th-century structure is a beautiful testimony to traditional Persian architecture