Palmyra, Syria
In the middle of the Syrian Desert is without doubt the most beautiful and magnificent of the Syrian historic sites – Palmyra. It is often described as the bride of the desert. Its magnificent remains tell of a heroic history during the reign of Queen Zenobia. Located in an oasis 215 km northeast of Damascus, Palmyra was an important city of central Syria.
Palmyra contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centers of the ancient world. This Arab commercial metropolis is located near a hot-water spring called Afqa, which make it an ideal halt for caravans moving between Iraq and Al-Sham, trading in silk from China to the Mediterranean. This strategic location made Palmyra prosper in a well-established kingdom from the 2nd century BC.
From the 1st to the 2nd century, the art and architecture of Palmyra, standing at the crossroads of several civilizations, married Greco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences. Recently, archaeologists in central Syria have unearthed the remnants of a 1,200-year-old church believed to be the largest ever discovered in Syria, at an excavation site in the ancient town of Palmyra.
