This photograph of the ancient Semitic city of Palmyra was taken before the devastating civil war in Syria began. I recall sitting atop a mountain at sunset, looking down and thinking this has to be one of the most incredible places I have ever seen. It beggars belief why anyone would want to destroy such an incredible site.
Although some positive news has emerged from Syria that large parts of Palmyra are still intact, the true extent of any devastation remains to be seen.
It’s happened throughout history – people desecrating religious symbols because it doesn’t match their beliefs. Pure ignorance, stupidity, and religious zealotry. I don’t have enough 4 letter words in my vocabulary to describe what I think of radical Islam and its followers.
Mankind never learns.
Frank (bbqboy)
It certainly does, I can think of numerous examples but the one that really pissed me off was the pointless destruction of the Buddhas at Bamyan in Afghanistan, which of course those lovely boys in the Taliban destroyed. I got plenty of four letter words in my vocabulary but Kirsty says I have to keep the blog clean!!
That is a beautiful photo. Perfect time of day. It would be interesting to see a photo from the exact same spot today, to see what remains. Fortunately, it sounds like quite a bit remains, though several buildings have been destroyed. Did you take this from the Citadel? I wonder if the temple ISIS blew up is in the photo.
Thanks Doug. I was wondering where the photo was taken but couldn’t place it in my memory. It was certainly on top of a hill and in one direction you could see the content of the photo and from the other side of the hill you could see the tower burial chambers, which I understand have been at least partly destroyed by IS. I stayed at the Zenobia Hotel when I visited Palymra, which was run down and poorly managed but had the most incredible location – I wonder what’s happened to that?
When were you there? I was there in 1995 and don’t remember where I stayed (though “run down and poorly managed” certainly sounds familiar). I think it was on the edge of town, where you could easily walk from the hotel to the ruins just beyond. With so much attention to the destruction at Palmyra, I wonder about other sites. I have read that the citadel and the huge covered bazaar in Aleppo are seriously damaged, along with the great Crusader castle at Krak de Chevaliers, but I wonder about Douro Europas and Hallabiye on the Euphrates, the walls and towers and basilica of the abandoned Roman city of Sergiopolis just south of Raqqa, the black basalt Roman amphitheater at Bosra in the south, and the other Crusader castles near the coast.
I can’t remember the exact time I was there but I think it was 2007 or thereabouts. Aleppo is certainly badly damaged. We met a Syrian Armenian lady in Yerevan last year who was telling us how bad it was in the city and Krak was actually used as a defensive castle again from what I heard. Like you say though, you have to wonder what condition other sites and monuments are currently in.