Syria: Ancient Cities, Castles and Cultural Landscapes

Syria can be explored through a wide range of historical and cultural themes: ancient urban sites, buildings from different periods, rural cultural landscapes and craft traditions. When planning your trip, it may therefore help to consider whether you are primarily interested in urban history, architecture or traditional crafts. The following examples show just how diverse these themes can be.

Ancient cities and their buildings

In its art and architecture, Palmyra combines influences from Greco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences. This combination shaped the city from the 1st to the 2nd century. A 1,100-metre-long colonnaded street forms its monumental axis; together with transverse colonnaded streets, it connects important public buildings. These include the Temple of Ba'al, Diocletian's Camp, the Agora and the Theatre. In Palmyra, artistic influences and the layout of the public urban fabric are thus part of a connected historical theme.

Evidence of Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic civilizations survives in the Ancient City of Damascus. Roman remains include parts of the Temple of Jupiter, several city gates and an impressive section of the Roman city wall. Aleppo offers a different perspective on the historic urban fabric, with its citadel, the Great Mosque dating from the 12th century, and madrasas, houses, khans and public baths from the 16th and 17th centuries. These buildings and their different periods can be understood as a history of the city spanning several eras.

Bosra adds another dimension to this comparison, with a Roman theatre from the 2nd century, early Christian ruins and several mosques within the walls of the Ancient City. Bosra’s former role is also a distinct part of its history: the city was once the capital of the Roman province of Arabia and an important stop on the old caravan route to Mecca. In Bosra, surviving buildings and the city’s historical significance thus stand side by side.

Cultural landscapes and castles

The Ancient Villages of Northern Syria comprise around forty ancient villages in an extensive limestone massif in northwestern Syria. They are grouped into eight archaeological parks and form a series of traditional cultural landscapes. Much of the original monuments and buildings has survived, including houses, pagan temples, churches and Christian sanctuaries, tombs, bathhouses, and public buildings as well as buildings used for economic or craft activities. The villages were abandoned between the 8th and 10th centuries. Their distinctive perspective is therefore not that of a single urban axis, but of a landscape with many historic settlements and different types of buildings.

The history of castle construction can also be considered through different periods. Crac des Chevaliers was built from 1142 to 1271 by the Order of the Hospitallers of Saint John of Jerusalem. Qal’at Salah El-Din retains features from its Byzantine beginnings in the 10th century, Frankish alterations in the late 12th century and Ayyubid fortifications dating from the late 12th to the mid-13th century. The castle is partially ruined. This comparison therefore sets a crusader castle built over an extended period alongside a structure with features from several periods of rule and construction.

Crafts and recurring traditions

The production of Aleppo ghar soap is based on traditional knowledge and craft skills. It combines natural, locally produced olive oil, called metraf, with bay laurel oil, called ghar. Production begins in winter. This seasonal detail is part of the craft tradition’s process; the ingredients and inherited knowledge together also define its distinctive character.

Al-Mrah lies in the rural surroundings of Damascus, where the village community and families organize the Damascene Rose Festival each year. Farmers and families use the Damask rose to make essential oils and traditional remedies, among other products. The festival and production are both connected to the rose, but describe different aspects of the tradition: the annual festival and the local community’s craft production.

If you are looking for a hotel in Syria, these differences can help you choose your preferred destination. First consider whether your trip will focus on urban history, a cultural landscape, a castle’s architectural history or a craft tradition. You can then compare the hotel options available for your specific destination.

Discover more destinations: Damascus, Aleppo, Latakia, Tartus, Majdal Shams, Qaşrīn, Gabun, Tunisia

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