Astonishing And Unique Places in Syria

When I traveled to the Middle East a few years ago, I could not have imagined that the pictures I took in Syria would be not only exclusive, but also, to some extent, unique. The war wiped out hundreds of historical architectural structures, including several historical monuments from the World Heritage List. A small share of consolation for me personally is that I described my journey in the book “Ancient Shrines of Syria”. The book has already sold out, but it can be found on the Internet and read for free. The triumphal arch was the "protagonist" of ancient Palmyra and its "visiting card". Built at the turn of the 2nd and 3rd centuries during the reign of the Sever dynasty, it served for triumphal parades in honor of the victories of the Romans over their enemies. During the reign of Queen Zenobia, who brought Palmyra out of the custody of Rome and declared war on the Roman Empire, soldiers of Zenobia passed under the arch, having won many glorious victories.

Palmyra is also an ancient city-state, according to legend, it was founded by genies, it was so beautiful. Palmyrenes treated the memory of their ancestors with care. They made burials in high towers of several floors, as well as in underground crypts. In total, three burial towers were destroyed in Palmyra, including the mausoleum of Elahbel, the largest of them with 5 floors. The towers and crypts housed many busts and tombstones of high artistic value.

Lev Allat is an exception to my sad story. He was resurrected twice from oblivion. This cheerful lion stood at the entrance to the Palmyra Museum. He guarded the ancient Arab goddess Allat, was considered her husband. The fragments of the lion were found by Polish archaeologists in 1977. Together they were brought together by the Polish restorer Jozef Gazy. The wreckage, after being destroyed by ISIS, was delivered to Damascus in 2015. And the lion was revived again by Polish archaeologists Bartosz Markovsky and Robert Zhukovsky. Fortunately, before the capture of the city by ISIS, all the most valuable exhibits of the museum were taken to Damascus.

The theater in Palmyra is small in size, but it was distinguished by the refinement and functionality of the facade, which housed utility rooms and rooms for actors and readers. The terrorists blew up the theater twice. The first time the central part was damaged, the second time the facade of the theater, which had a high artistic value, was completely destroyed.

From the Arc de Triomphe, the colonnade of Queen Zenobia began, bordering the main street of Palmyra - dekumanis, which had a length of 1100 m and reached the walls of the Temple of Bel. The colonnade was decorated with sculptures of noble citizens and inscriptions in Latin, the state language of Palmyra.

It was built in the 1st century under the emperor Tiberius in honor of the supreme deity of the Palmyrenes Bela - the Lord of heaven. It was one of the main attractions of Palmyra along with the Arc de Triomphe.

Another type of arched structures, which was erected at the intersection of streets. Only 4 columns remained intact from the Tetrapylon.

Built in 131. Dedicated to the all-Semitic god Baalshamin, the god of rain and thunder. This is the second main god among the inhabitants of Palmyra, identical to Bel, the lord of heaven. But he was closer to people, was considered more merciful than the formidable Bel.

The ancient city-state, located 80 km south of Aleppo, was destroyed by military formations that captured the Idlib region. Ebla is one of the many Semitic kingdoms that existed on the territory of Syria in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BC. Its history, economic and diplomatic ties became known after the discovery by archaeologists of the colossal “royal archive of Ebla”, consisting of 20 thousand clay cuneiform tablets in the Eblaite and Sumerian languages.

He deserves to be told more about him. This outstanding monument of the Arab Middle Ages, created in the 8th-12th centuries, was a whole complex of structures: mosques, caravanserais, madrasahs, baths - they bordered or were embedded in the commercial part of the Old City.

The ancient land of Syria keeps a huge number of historical and cultural monuments. Phoenicia, Assyria, Mesopotamia, the Hittite Empire, Rome, Persia, Egypt, Babylon, the Kingdom of Damascus, Byzantium and the Arab Caliphate ruled this land, and each empire left architectural traces of its power here. The phalanxes of Alexander the Great marched across this land and the famous cavalry of Saladdin swept through, armies of various conquerors clashed here - from the crusaders to the hordes of Tamerlane, and only in 1946 this country received real independence.

120 km south of Damascus lies Bosra, the capital of the Roman province of Arabia, built almost entirely of black basalt. The main attraction of the city is one of the best preserved Roman theaters in the world. The theater is unusual in that in the 5th century it was fortified and turned into a citadel - 9 towers were built around the building and a deep moat. In the citadel you can still see the magnificent theater, designed for 15 thousand seats. Also preserved are the nymphaeum, the Nabataean gates, the triumphal arch, many medieval buildings, one of the oldest mosques in the world (in 634 Bosra became the first city in Syria to convert to Islam) and a monastery (4th century). In 1980, Bosra was included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.