Meanwhile, in Syria

Shelled: Crac des Chevaliers

There’s a civil war in Syria. I always feel it is somehow inappropriate to talk about archaeology, classics, or heritage, when people are fighting to survive. Nevertheless, I think it is not unimportant to pay some attention to the damage to the cultural damage. Here is a report by the Global Heritage Network. It’s quite depressing. Below is a quote from page six. After that, there are forty-five other pages.

Sites known to have been affected by the shelling are:

• World Heritage Site – (parts of the) Archaeological Villages of Northern Syria, in particular al-Bara, Deir Sunbel, Aïn Larose.
• World Heritage Site – Bosra.
• World Heritage Site – Crac des Chevaliers.
• Tentative World Heritage Site – Apamea and the citadel of Qal’at al-Mudiq. Also the town surrounding the citadel, which is known to date from at least the 16th century. Damage has been confirmed at the 16th century Mosque al-Tawhid, and is suspected at the Islamic caravanserai which forms the museum.
• Tell Sheikh Hamad (Dur Katlimmu) – Assyrian temple collapsed after shell fire and the site was “transformed into a battlefield between deserters and army”.
• Mosque of Idlib Sermin (Fatimid era).
• Mosque of al-Tekkiyeh Ariha minaret destroyed.
• Al-Qusaayr – Great Mosque and Mar Elias monastery damaged.
• Mosque al-Herak in the Dara’a region.
• Oldest mosque in city of Sermin.
• Our Lady of Seydnaya Monastery – Earliest part of monastery dates to early Christian era (circa 547AD) – shell through back wall.
• Tomb of the Sheikh Dahur al-Muhammad in Rityan, in Aleppo province.