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Writer's pictureLevi Zelkind - Best Israel Tours

MONASTERIES OF THE JUDEAN DESERT


Wadi Qelt Monastic Caves
Wadi Qelt - first Hermits cave dwellings

Judean Desert is the smallest but one of the most famous in the World. Besides its fascinating natural beauty, it is also a home of some most Ancient Christian Monasteries.


Monastic life in the Judean Desert started in the IV CAD, and continues till our days, sometimes, uninterrupted. These monasteries were destroyed, monks slaughtered; and after years, or, sometimes, hundreds of years, the monks have stubbornly continued coming back to revive their desert homes.


The oldest surviving monastery is Mar Saba. In spite of endless destructions, monastic like has never seized to exist here.

Eutimius Monastery was destroyed in the XIII Century, and only recent excavations unearthed its gigantic Water Cistern dating V Century. This is a real engineering miracle even by today' standards.



Women are not alowed to visit the Monastery, and could only watch it from the top of the Women Tower
View of Mar Saba Monastery with Women Tower

Full of secrets, men only Mar Saba Monastery
Internal Courtyard of Mar Saba Monastery

St. George Monastery at Wadi Qelt looks like it has been carved from the surrounding rocks, seems impossible to be real. But it is, and the monks there feel happy!


Wadi Qelt is one of the most beautiful places in Israel, and Saint George is one of the most interesting monasteries
Mysterious Saint George Monastery at Wadi Qelt

Eutimius Monastery was destroyed in the XIII Century, and only recent excavations unearthed its gigantic Water Cistern dating V Century. This is a real engineering miracle even by today' standards.


People standing at the bottom of this unique water cistern look really small. This is an engineering miracle of the V Century
Gigantic Water Coistern of Eutimius Monastery

And St. Gerasimus Monastery, a source of some Ancient legends, is

full of life and visitors today, like is was 1,600 years ago, when it was built.


Built in the V Century, Gerasimust Monasery is still full of life and visitors
Eternal Beauty of Saint Gerasimus Monastery

To conclude, Judean Desert is a legend alive. And, if you want to

experience it,just join our desert tours!



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