<p><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Verdana', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"><a href="Template1.aspx?MenuID=136"><span style="color: #0364ab; font-size: xx-small;">Damascus &amp; South Region</span></a><span style="color: #0364ab; font-size: xx-small;"> <span style="color: #000000;">|</span> <span style="color: #808080;"><strong>Central Region</strong></span> <span style="color: #000000;">|</span> </span><a href="Template1.aspx?MenuID=140"><span style="color: #0364ab; font-size: xx-small;">Aleppo &amp; North Region</span></a><span style="color: #0364ab; font-size: xx-small;"> <span style="color: #000000;">|</span> </span><a href="Template1.aspx?MenuID=141"><span style="color: #0364ab; font-size: xx-small;">Mediterranean Region</span></a><span style="color: #0364ab; font-size: xx-small;"> <span style="color: #000000;">|</span> </span><a href="Template1.aspx?MenuID=142"><span style="color: #0364ab; font-size: xx-small;">East Region</span></a></span> <br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="color: #0364ab;">- </span><a href="#homs"><span style="color: #0364ab;">Homs</span></a><span style="color: #0364ab;"> <br />- </span><a href="#Hama"><span style="color: #0364ab;">Hama</span></a><br /><span style="color: #0364ab;">- </span><a href="#Apamea"><span style="color: #0364ab;">Apamea</span></a><br /><span style="color: #0364ab;">- </span><a href="#Palmyra"><span style="color: #0364ab;">Palmyra</span></a><br /><span style="color: #0364ab;">- </span><a href="#crac des chevaliers"><span style="color: #0364ab;">Crac des Chevaliers</span></a><br /><br /><br /><strong>H<a name="homs"></a>OMS</strong><br /><br />162 km north of Damascus; Homs (ancient Emesa) is strategically placed at the intersection of the natural north/south corridor and the access route from the Syrian Desert to the coast through the break in the coastal mountain chains known as the Homs Gap. Homs site is also determined by the Orontes River which flows through the city. Today it is a key point in the Syrian road and rail networks and the base for several major industries.<br /><br /><strong>The Great Mosque al Nūri:</strong><br /><br />It is a vas rectangular building with an oblong courtyard, oriented east/west, it lies on what was probably the site of the pagan sun temple and the later Church of St John.<br /><br /><strong>Old Churches:</strong><br /><br /><strong>- Church of al Zunnar (the church of the Virgin's belt):<br /></strong><br />the curious name derives from the discovery under the church's altar in 1953 of a textile belt said to have belonged to the Virgin. The belt is believed to have been placed in the first church on this spot in the late forth century. Most of the present church's structure dates from the last 100 years.<br /><br /><strong>- Church of St Elian:<br /></strong><br />it is more interesting the frescoes found in this church. Church of St Elian is dedicated to the son of a Roman officer from Emesa martyred at the end of the third century for refusing to renounce Christianity. The martyrium at the end of right hand nave is the burial place of St Elian and other saints and houses a remarkable set of mural paintings of the 12th century and earlier which were discovered in 1970. The church is still a pilgrimage center due to the miracles associated with St Elian and its renewed fame has resulted in an expansion and redecoration of the main nave. The modern painted frescoes are devoted to the life of St Elian.<br /><br /><br /><strong>Mosque of Khaled Ibn al Walid:</strong><br /><br />The mosque, completely rebuilt in the late Turkish period (1908 - 13), is on a site dating back to Ayyūbid times and contains the reputed tomb of one of the early followers of Muhammed, Khaled Ibn al Walid, whose military campaigns in Syria led to the Islamic conquest. He died in 642; his exploits have been eclipsed by his sworn enemy, the Caliph Umar.<br /><br /><strong>H<a name="Hama"></a>AMA</strong><br /><br />47 km north of Homs, 209 km north from Damascus lies Hama that, in the past, enjoyed a reputation as one of the more charming of the Syrian towns, more successful than most in making of its environment a pleasant and picturesque setting through the use of the Orontes as the city's lungs and cooling device.<br /><br /><strong>The Norias<br /></strong><br />The town has 17 norias in the center of town, in the Orontes pushing water when it's weakly flowing. The great wheels, up to 20 m in diameter, were designed to raise water from the Orontes. The river's flow is channeled by a dam into a sluice which drives the wheel. This raises the wheel's wooden box devices that trap water and discharge it at the top of its rotation into towers at the side. From the towers, the water flowed through stone aqueducts into the town or surrounding agricultural areas, each consumer being allocated a portion of the flow over a period of time. Hama specialized in these devices since the Byzantine times. The largest example is the central group named al-Mamuriye and dates from 1453 (Mamelukes period). <br /><br /><strong>The Museum<br /></strong><br />Watching the museum will be educating because of its contents, Bronze Ages and Iron Age through to the Ayyūbid and Mameluke periods. This museum is housed in the Hama Beit Azem (Azem Palace), the 18th century mansion of a former wali (governor) of Hama, Assaad Pasha al-Azem (1705 - 57, wali of Hama pre-1742 and of Damascus in 1743 - 57). The collection of objects is displayed in a number of rooms in addition to the Roman and Christian remains found in the lower courtyard. Particularly worthy of note is the mosaic of Mariamin (west of Homs, in the edge of the Jebel Ansariye). The work is from the last quarter of the 4th century.<br /><br /><strong>A<a name="Apamea"></a>PAMEA <br /></strong><br />55 km north of Hama; from Apamea, nestled on the east side of the Orontes Plain before the green starts to fade towards the desert to the east, you look out on a stunning sight, over the rich farmlands reclaimed from swamp towards the hazy skein of the Jebel Ansariye to the west.<br /><br />Apamea remained a center of considerable importance into the Byzantine period when it became a base for adherents of the Monophysite (heresy). It was made the capital of Syria Secunda province in the early 5th century and was the seat of a Bishop. The Persians sacked and burnt the city in 573 during the troubled century which also saw a succession of major earthquakes. The Byzantines "liberation" then came just in time to see its fall to the Arabs a decade later.<br /><br /><strong>PAL<a name="Palmyra"></a>MYRA </strong><br /><br /></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">In the central Syrian Desert, 235 km north east of Damascus; Palmyra is one of the great sites of the ancient world. The remains of this oasis city seem suspended in time in this harsh desert environment. An elusive and highly romanticized goal of European travelers over the centuries, even today a visit to Palmyra is an experience which alone makes the trip to Syria worthwhile.<br /><br /><strong>Temple of Baal-Shamin:</strong> (lord of the Heavens in the Semitic pantheon responsible for rain and thus fecundity). The first work in the temple dates from the early 1st century AD, and many adjustments has been made since then and kept improving till the 3rd century AD under the rule of Othenadus.<br /><br /><strong>Temple of Bel</strong>: This stands in an enormous compound (205m by 210m) at the East end of the main colonnaded street. The temple is certainly the most important religious building of the 1st century AD in the Middle East and is one of few to survive. The complex was built in several stages.<br /><br /><strong>Nabu (Nebo) Temple:</strong> Just after the monumental entrance arch of the colonnaded street to the west, the temple of Nabo measures 20m by 3m with bases of the surrounding colonnade, forming a trapezoid. The plan is basically Eastern in inspiration, and the scale is much smaller than that of the Bel temple. Nebo was a Mesopotamian god of wisdom and oracles, equated with the classical god Apollo, which dates the temple to the last quarter of the 1st century Ad, with work continuing on the surrounding complex until the 3rd century.<br /><br /><strong>Zenobia Baths:</strong> On the right of the colonnaded street, by four monolith columns from Egypt, with red granite jutting from the line of arcading. The baths (which existed for almost a century before being provided with a more sumptuous entry attributed to Emperor Diocletian) have an outline which can be traced in the foundations, including the surviving columns of the atrium style.<br /><br /><strong>The Folklore Museum:</strong> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: small;">The Popular Museum of Folklore is located in an Ottoman Khan close to the Bel Temple, with a great many pieces of Palmyra folklore. There one can find a Bedouin tent with carpets made of wool used in decorating the walls and the ground. In addition to that we can clearly see all materials related to the preparation of Arabic coffee, for example the coffee kettle and an Arabic musician's tools called the Mehbaj. Finally, one comes to the hall of the museum, with traditional weaponry used in the past, belonging to many historical ages, but particularly relating to the Islamic age, such as swords and helmets.<br /><br /><strong>The Colonnaded Street:</strong> serves as the main axis of the Roman city running 1.2 km approximately north west/south east in its orientation. It holds the monumental arch, an achievement of considerable architectural interest. Just after the arch you'll see Temple of Nebo or Nabu. At the end of the colonnaded street there are the Roman shops and the camp of Diocletian.<br /><br /><strong>The Theater: </strong>gave little hint that it was once in the same league as several other major examples in Syria (Apamea, Bosra, Cyrrhus) in terms of size. The theatre dates to the first half of the 2nd century Ad, with the usual facilities for crowd handling and rooms for the actors. The theatre has been restored up to ninth row of seating. The central doorway is set in a half-oval instead of the usual half-circular exedra and there are five doorways leading behind the stage instead of the usual three.<br /><br /><strong>The Agora:</strong> Located to the west of the theatre, this large rectangular (48m by 71m) enclosure dates from the first part of the 2nd century AD and has been extensively restored since its excavation in 1939-40. The open space was surrounded on four sides by columned porticos, and the walls decorated with windows with richly decorated triangular pediments. The usual statues of local dignitaries are found on the columns and walls (200 in total in this space). The doorway to the Tarrif Court to the east was known as the Senators` gate and was decorated with statues of the family of Emperor Septimus Severus (Emperor 193-211).<br /><br /><br /><strong>The Tetrapylon:</strong> At the end of the Colonnaded Street stood the four of sets of four columns which mark the major crossing point, in an oval place. Reconstructed by the Syrian Antiquities Department from 1939, this comprises a stepped platform on which are the columns, each standing on a plinth and topped by an entablature. Statues originally stood in each of the groupings. The columns were of pink granite from Aswan in Egypt but only one has survived. The modern reconstruction is based on compounded concrete substitutes.<br /><br /><strong>Valley of the Tombs:</strong> Palmyrene tower tombs are located in a valley that is named after them (valley of tombs), they are in 3 types of the underground chamber "hypogeum", the combination of "hypogeum" and tower and a house or temple tombs (also called tower tombs). The Valley of the Tombs spreads west from Jebel Husseiniye behind Diocletian's camp and stretches 1 km down a barren and forbidding valley. It is an eerie sight at the best of time, even more so under moonlight or at first or last light. There are the underground tombs to the northern slopes of the hill. To the south of Jebel Husseiniye is a group of tower tombs spread out along the edge of the valley. To their east we find Tower Tomb of Kithoth, built <br />in AD 40 and standing 10 m high. A relief of a burial feast carved into a niche of the eastern façade is the earliest example found at Palmyra and shows the Parthian rigidity of style later softened by Roman techniques. The most prominent of the tombs along the slopes of Umm al-Belqis, another hill near the Jebel Husseiniye, is the Tower Tomb of Iamliku (Yeliku AD 83), a handsome and imposing family tomb on the right of this grouping. Another group of tower tombs called Tower Tomb f Ellabel and his three brothers.<br /><br /><strong>CR<a name="crac des chevaliers"></a>AC DES CHEVALIERS<br /></strong><br />41 km west of Homs; as the Parthenon is to Greek temples, so is the Krak des Chevaliers to medieval castles, the supreme example, one of the great buildings of all times. Many superlatives have been spent on this monument but few do it full justice. No matter how many times you visit the great fortress, it never presents the same face.<br /><br />The Crac is certainly the supreme example of Crusader castle building, showing the full flowering of the Hospitables' style which went far beyond the stolid adaptations of Byzantine models that had previously influenced the castles of the first half of the 12th century.</span></p>