المدن السورية الأثرية في لائحة التراث العالمي

Abstract EN

When UNESCO World Heritage Committee inscribes an archeological city or site on the World Heritage List according to established standards and specifications, it is categorically recognizing the historical, artistic or nationalistic significance of this city or site.

The Syrian Arab Republic is among the first countries that ratified the Cultural Heritage Protection Convention, and it has many cultural and archeological sites on the World Heritage List, such as the Old city of Damascus, the old city of Aleppo, Bosra, Palmyra, Crack de Chevalier, and Citadel of Salah El Din.

Other sites are also waiting to be inscribed on the list like Hama's water Wheels, Ebla, Apamea, Maaloula, Dura Europos, Arwad Island, the ancient city of Mari, Al Raqqa city, Ugarit, and Qasr Al Heer Al Sharqi in eastern part of Syria.

To understand the reasons that made the World Heritage Committee include these Syrian cities and sites on the world heritage list, it is important to study these cities and sites with an in depth examination of their historical origins, and what contained archeological monuments, sites, and theaters they were famous from pre historic times up to the Islamic civilization.

This study will provide an overview of all these historical cities and sites according to a clear scientific approach, and will conclude with a description of the destruction that was inflicted on them during the years of the Syrian crisis, with a view of how these sites can be restored again.