Nissim Kahlon chiseled his cave home out of sandstone cliffs that over look the Mediterranean sea in Herzliya, Israel.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
Nissim Kahlon spent 50 years carving a house out of sandstone cliffs in Herzliya, Israel.
He filled his home with recycled items, including old bottles and tiles.
Now, the government wants to evict him because his illegal house threatens the coastline.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
The cave home is almost like a labyrinth, with multiple rooms connected by tunnels and staircases, per AP News.
Colloquially known as the “Hermit House,” the exterior of the house is covered in rocks, pebbles, and other recycled materials, per Atlas Obscura.
A photo of the house shows the property spans multiple levels and can be accessed via a ladder that leads from the beach.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
Kahlon told New Lines Magazine in June that he was living in a tent on the beach after running away from an arranged marriage. When the police came to chase him away, he decided to carve himself a shelter.
The home started out as a simple cave, but Kahlon started adding more rooms over time, per AP News.
The sprawling complex is made from and filled with recycled materials, Kahlon told AP News.
“From the stones I quarry I make a cast and build a wall. There’s no waste here, only material, that’s the logic,” he said. “Everything is useful, there’s no trash.”
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
Some of the tools Kahlon used to carve the house include a self-made iron spear, shovels, and spatulas, per New Lines Magazine.
Kahlon has furniture in his home, but he also carved shelves into the interior rock walls for extra storage space, photos show.
Even though the structure seems archaic, it has a plumbing system and a phone line. Many rooms are also powered by electricity, per AP News.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
The incidents took place in the early 1980s and the late 1990s, when the construction of the nearby Herzliya Marina caused the beach to erode, per Atlas Obscura.
Herzliya is an affluent city about eight miles north of Tel Aviv. The Hermit House is located just off the Herzliya Pituach area, a wealthy beachfront district known for its hotels and luxury villas.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
Kahlon created the mosaic decor using old tiles that he found in dumpsters around Tel Aviv, per AP News.
While some rooms are bare shells, others — like the one in the image above — feature brightly colored walls, windows, and paintings.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
According to the country’s Environmental Protection Ministry, Kahlon’s home has caused “significant damage to the cliff, endangered the public, and reduced the beach for public passage,” as reported by AP News.
“I worked here fifty years with no salary. What did I do — did I murder, steal, rape? No! This house is a museum. They should give me a prize,” Kahlon told New Lines Magazine.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
Kahlon said he didn’t have approval from the city to build his house, but that the only time he’s received pushback from local authorities was in 1974, per AP News. At the time, he received a demolition order that wasn’t carried out in the end, he said.
Kahlon is adamant that he’s not in the wrong because the local authorities hooked his cave up to the electric grid years ago, per AP News.
AP Photo/Ariel Schalit
“I am not leaving here. I am ready for them to bury me here,” Kahlon told AP News. “I have nowhere to go, I have no other home.”
With help from his friends and family, Kahlon has been able to raise money for a lawyer who will represent him in court, New Lines Magazine reported.
“If they had come to me 30 or 40 years ago and said you’re illegal, leave, I would have left — but now where do I have to go?” Kahlon told New Lines Magazine. “I can’t even walk. How much longer do I have?”