The caves at Beit Guvrin outside Jerusalem are being transformed into a safe outdoor exhibition space, contrasting the old and the new.

These bell-shaped caves have hosted visitors for hundreds of years, from biblical times to present-day tourists. Now as well as being extraordinary natural structures, they are host to seven sculptures and video installations by Italian artist Ivo Bisignano.

According to Bisignano, each of the wooden sculptures erected in the caves here have their own personality and identity.

"We wanted to create something really theatrical in a cave. To give the people (some) breathing, tiny dream in this moment and this story, I think it's like the story for everybody when travelling and finally find love in one place," he says.

In 2014, the United Nations' cultural agency UNESCO added the site to its World Heritage List.

These caves at Beit Guvrin-Maresha, have been used as quarries, burial sites, storerooms and hideouts. The "Bell Caves" were limestone quarries, used in construction in the Byzantine and in the early Islamic periods. Their shape is a result of the quarrying method: a round shaft was cut through the rock and then the shaft was gradually enlarged.

"We have here many kinds of human made caves and we're standing in the center of the Bell Caves. We have different kinds, it's very impressive, each one has a different character. This one (Bell Caves) gave us the declaration of UNESCO as a human heritage place, human heritage site," says Dana Barnea, of the National Parks and Nature Reserves.

Barnea explains: "This cave was closed for more than 20 years, and now we decided we have the opportunity to make a change, everything is getting changed because of the corona(virus), people are coming more outside, they are looking for outdoor activities."

Bisignano is hoping people will not "live in Instagram page" and discover the outdoors "enough with this really obsession of social media, and smell again what is natural and what is emotional."

The exhibition called Human Forms will open to the public on Saturday and run until October 10.

Measures to tackle the spread of COVID-19 require people who wants to see it to register their visit in advance with Israel's National Parks and Nature Reserves.

(With input from AP)