The future of burial: inside Jerusalem's hi-tech underground necropolis

With a dire shortage of land for graves, the holy city is reviving an ancient custom of underground burial - with lift access, LED lighting and golf buggies

Cool air from deep inside the mountain lightly wafts through cavernous arched tunnels. Along the walls of the subterranean passages, rows of human-sized chambers have been dug into the rock. It is unmistakably a catacomb.

Yet this mass tomb is not a relic of the Roman empire. It was made with huge electric diggers, and the walls are lined with concrete. People will enter by lift, and those with limited mobility will be able to use a golf buggy to traverse the necropolis.