Monuments to visit Damascus

On an-Nasr's left wing, the High Court of Justice occupies the former seraglio of Ibrahim Pasha. The seraglio of the last Ottoman governors (headquarters of the current Ministry of the Interior), not far from Merjé square, facing the Hotel Kertaja, dates back to 1900.

From the telephone station, you can admire the lovely facade of the headquarters of the Société des eaux El-Fijé, which feeds Damascus into drinking water. Finally, the Hijaz station, built in 1913, retains a ceiling painted in the purest damascene style, in very good condition.

From the Birket Al-Hajj, the citadel quickly wins. From the outside, nothing leaves the wonderful monument hanging behind its high walls. A deep ditch, a drawbridge bridge and eight massive square towers form defence. Archères are set in machicolated walls and surmounted by round paths. Most of the works date back to the ayyoubide era and are the initiative of Malik al-Adil, the brother of Saladin. Only the semi-circular form has what intrigue.

Past a few dark galleries, the visitor leads to the interior of a perfectly preserved Roman theatre. " A military theatre, certainly more than it needed to excite our archeological curiosity, "noted the French traveller Guillaume Rey in 1854. At that time, the interior was still crowded with a mosque and an arsenal.

After lengthy work that lasted until 1947, which allowed the passage of stands and passages, the theatre finally revived.

So it was its strong conversion, undertaken from the time of omeyyade, which finally allowed it to keep it intact: it is only the theatre of Aspendos (in Turkish territory) that is in such an exceptional state of conservation.

Its construction dates back to the middle of the th century. The three rows of 14, 18 and 5 gradins are perfectly preserved. They allowed for 9 000 spectators. Its diameter of 100 m holds it in the third place of the theatres of Syria, after Apamea and Cyrrhus.

But unlike those two, this theater is not standing on a hill. A complex network of galleries located in the service always allows access to the stands. From the proskenion (stage), where the actors unfold, we walk through a few steps to the orchestra where the choir was held. Behind the proskenion, the décor is treated as a three-storey palace facade. Only the decoration of the first level remains, with its columns to the corinthians capitals. Ultimate refinement, a silk vélum was stretched over the spectators to protect them from the sun's zeal in summer and the fine rain of the winter. The great curtain referred to the public in fine droplets the scented water that was evaporating.

Visible from the road, it trône on the small village of Salkhad. Careful not to take pictures of the summit of the citadel, the proximity of Jordan and Israel prompted the Syrian army to make it a point of observation.

It is likely, given the scarcity of tourists in this remote part of the territory, that one of the gentils guides you in this wonderful site. From the summit, the view of the other volcanoes is sumptuous.

The citadel is perched on the crater of a volcano of which it uses the cone as external defence. Seen as a defence station south of Damascus against cross-progress, its major date, however, in the restoration of the Mameluke sultan Baïbars (1277), whose lion appears in many places. The visit of the rooms requires a torch light. The northern glacis is particularly well preserved. Take a look at the casernements at the foot of the citadel. You'll even read, on inner partitions, graffiti in French. But nothing surprising on the merits, these shelters date from the French mandate.