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Parco Archeologico Storico Naturale delle Chiese Rupestri del Materano

Parco della Murgia Materana

Gravina canyon opposite the Sassi, 150 cave churches, Murgia Timone viewpoint, Neolithic villages.

Photograph · Parco Archeologico Storico Naturale delle Chiese Rupestri del Materano

At a glance

Parco della Murgia Materana facts that matter

Names, makers, dates, and context before the story opens up.

Italian nameParco Archeologico Storico Naturale delle Chiese Rupestri del Materano
What it isPark
WhereMatera, Basilicata
Known forGravina canyon opposite the Sassi, 150 cave churches, Murgia Timone viewpoint, Neolithic villages

The story

What you're looking at

Parco della Murgia Materana is a protected ravine-and-rock-cut landscape between Matera and Montescaglioso, distinct from the wider UNESCO property.

Verified details

Each statement below is linked to the record or institution that supports it.

The official protected-area identity is Parco Archeologico Storico Naturale delle Chiese Rupestri del Materano, commonly Parco della Murgia Materana. It is a protected landscape and park system, not a single viewpoint, one church or a synonym for the Sassi.1

The park authority describes a soft-rock landscape shaped by ravines, caves and gorges, extending between Matera and Montescaglioso. This is a regional landscape relationship, not evidence that every ravine or cave is within the same protected boundary or accessible to visitors.1

The park authority identifies about 150 rock-cut worship sites spanning the early Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. The range and number do not justify calling every site Byzantine, monastic, frescoed, open or part of one route.2

The park is related to UNESCO property 670, The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera, but the park's boundary and management identity must not be assumed to be identical to the World Heritage property's core or buffer.3,1

Sources and citations (3)
  1. Ente Parco della Murgia MateranaScoprire il ParcoOfficial park identity and landscape overviewRead source
  2. Ente Parco della Murgia MateranaLe Chiese RupestriOpening inventory and historical interpretationRead source
  3. UNESCO World Heritage CentreThe Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of MateraProperty scope and integrityRead source

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Nearby

More to see in Matera

Worth folding into the same day.

  1. Matera Cathedral's campanile rising from the Civita above the SassiMateraMatera CathedralApulian Romanesque on the Civita, Last Judgment fresco, gilded Baroque interior, spur between the Sassi
  2. The Sassi of Matera stacked beneath the cathedral on the Civita spurMateraSassi di MateraCave city of nine millennia, Sasso Caveoso and Barisano, rock churches, shame to wonder story
  3. Early medieval frescoes of saints and archangels cover the rock walls of the Crypt of the Original Sin near MateraMateraCrypt of the Original SinSistine Chapel of cave churches, ninth-century frescoes, Flower Painter's hand, gravina cliff setting
All Matera monumentsThe Matera guideAll monuments