Galleries

I’m often asked what is my favourite site among the 130 or so listed in Monuments of Syria. I’m mischievously tempted to change my answer each time as there are too many where memories of the site depends so much on the time of day, the season, the light as well as the remains themselves. […]

This bridge is difficult to reach, lying at the far northeastern corner of Syria, right on the short stretch of the Tigris River shared with Iraq. Caution is needed in approaching the site. The first bridge on this spot may have been a Roman structure, forming the connection between the frontier districts of the Empire […]

This curious temple, one of the rare remains from the period of transition between the Bronze and Iron Ages, lies on a tell situated on the west bank of the Afrin River, not far north of the Church of St Simeon. Its discovery has provided important clues on the development of religious structures at the […]

Cyrrhus lies 76 kms north of Aleppo, almost on the Turkish frontier and is set amid recently developed olive-growing country. Originally a Hellenistic settlement protecting the important access route between Antioch and Edessa (modern Sanliurfa in southeastern Turkey), Cyrrhus remained an important point defending the Roman military route to the crossing of the Euphrates at […]

The monastic settlement at Telanissos at the foot of the ridge where the Church of St Simeon was later built, was the original monastic centre which St Simeon the Style left to take up his isolated position away from the distractions of the community. The centre flourished from the late fifth century with the fame […]

In the mountainous Qalamoun area straddling the highway north from Damascus to Homs lies the small monastery of St Moses the Egyptian. Neglected for many centuries, the monastery was restored from the 1980s through the energy and dedication of the Italian Jesuit, Fr Paolo dell’Oglio. The monastery was originally founded in the sixth century but […]

This village, situated on a relatively open area of land in the Jebel Barisha, has recently been studied intensively by French archaeologists, one of the few villages in the area made available for scientific exploration. Also unusually, the centre remained inhabited right into the Arab middle ages (perhaps due to its agricultural resources). Remains of […]