Things to see and do Palmyre

The most important of these necropolises, the Valley of Tombs, runs along the Al-Qoubour Oued west of Palmyra. It houses many tower tombs, the oldest style attested, perhaps dating back to the Hellenistic period. Among the many testimonies of this burial art lining the flanks of the small hill of Umm al-Belqis, the tomb of Jamblique is the best preserved. It dates from 83 Apr. On three floors, it allowed 200 burials. Because the tombs of Palmyra were designed to receive an extended family circle, or even strangers to the family to whom the location was rented.

By continuing to the west by the path to the banks of the oued, the most important tower tombs, that of Elahbel, are reached. Its capacity was 300 burials. The ground floor is particularly well preserved, with ceiling ceiling and pilasters with corinthians capitals, and the view of the summit is astonishing but dangerous. Each location was closed by a stone which, according to a tradition of Palmyra, bore the image of the deceased. These stones have long been removed, and there are hardly any major museums in the world that have a few copies.

Many other tombs are particularly in ruins in the surrounding areas. Some are made up of underground chambers (hypogeous), such as that of Yarhaï, which is now reconstituted in the basement of the Damascus museum.

Another necropolis is located at the exit of the city, on the right, on the road leading to Damascus, shortly after Hotel Palmyra.

It is mainly composed of hypogeous. The tomb, said of the three brothers (mid th century), is accessible by a staircase that plunges the visitor underground. It is in T. An inscription indicates that three brothers built this tomb for commercial purposes. Each wing contained small modules to accommodate the dead. In addition, it gives us an idea of the decorations painted inside the tombs. The main wing is decorated with a fresco to the glory of the three brothers.

150 m from there, the Recorded Recorded (98 apr. ) is particularly interesting by the sculpture (much later since dated 229) who represents the deceased, a notable rich of the name of Maqqaï, taking part in his funeral banquet, lying on his own sarcophagus.

On the other side of the road to Damascus, there is a third necropolis, including the Artaban recorded, well preserved as discovered during the pipeline route, in 1957. Nothing prevents the discovery of tombs on foot or by car (for the distant ones) alone. However, there are only closed doors. To see the richly decorated interior, tours are organised from the Antiques museum where tickets are purchased. Fixed-time departures since the Master of the keys (an employee of the museum) must join the convoy. Only two tombs are open to the visit.

Tourists, conquered by the exceptional monuments of Palmyra, often forget to walk through the oasis. However, the gardens that populate the ancient city cover over 3 000 ha, where palm trees, olive trees and pomegranate trees grow away from high walls of land between which wind paths and canals.

The irrigation, once exclusively provided by the Efca source, is now complemented by diesel powered diesel pumps. In the middle of this maze of paths, you will probably be invited to share a glass of tea in the shade of a garden.

It will also be an opportunity to discover the fauna and flora that inhabit these places: date palms, olive trees and grenadiers. Today, the oasis belongs to the premises. Some have built part of their parcel of coffee; A break in one of them is the best way to discover how the oasis works.

Try a route from the street that runs through the palm grove to then reach the temple of Bêl. Around it, you will find several small coffees lost in the middle of the vegetation, some with swimming pool and space for camping:

Al-Baider coffee restaurant

Located behind the time of Bêl

59 17 410 86 54 84 44 09 031

[email protected]

Count 300 LS for a meal, 50 LS for tea or coffee (served alcohol) and 300 LS for sleeping under tent.

In the Bêl temple, this café-restaurant serves typical dishes from Palmyra served on tables scattered throughout the oasis. Here no concrete structure, we are in contact with nature, surrounded by palm trees, olive trees and grenadiers with a privileged view on the rear wall of the temple of Bêl. If you want to relax in the swimming pool, you can relax with a massage or even spend the night in the Bedouin tent at the entrance to the camp.

On the road leading from the monumental arc to the city stands the cella of an important sanctuary dedicated to Baalshamin. The cult of this god cananéen, «master of the heavens», responsible for rain and fertility, grew significantly from the Seleucids. The sanctuary, built gradually, consists of three peristyle courses extending to Zénobia Cham Palace. The facade of the temple is decorated with four columns. The cella has a specially treated semi circular thalamos. Finally, one of the few statues of origin still in its place lies in the north in relation to cella.

The decumanus of ancient Palmyra offers this singular (compared to that of Apamea for example) that it is not straight. Three sections mark, from east to west, the main axis of the Roman city and correspond to different periods and functions.

The first section links the shrine of Bêl with the monumental bow. This part, the most recent (beginning of the third century). I.C.), is unfortunately the most in ruins. Only the four columns that precede the nymphée have been restated.

The monumental Arc. The magnificent monumental arch marks the transition between the first section, with religious function, and the second that serves the official buildings.

To mask the decumanus splitting, the arc is composed of two interlocking arcs, one looking at the temple of Bêl, the other inside the inner axis of the city. The effect is remarkable, especially as the base of acorns and oak leaves, rosettes, bordeaux rinceaux is striking. The view over the colonnade and beyond the Arab castle through its central arch makes it the symbol of the city.

The path lined with porticos that opens then was not paved to allow the camels to borrow it. It dates back to the end of the th century.

The temple of Nebô. The first monument to the left is the sanctuary of Nebô, whose main entrance is to the south. The temple itself was in the centre of a trapezoidal enclosure lined with columns. A very visible altar faces the stairs leading to cella. A eldest son and interpreter of the great Mardouk of Babylon, Nebô is traditionally attached to Apollo.

The Diocletian's Baths. Back on the decumanus, we find four columns of granite from Egypt and marking the entrance of the Diocletian's baths. On the ground, there is the location of several parts surrounding a central basin. Restored by Diocletian at the end of the th century, the thermal baths actually date from the era of the Sévères.

The commercial function of the street is clearly marked right and left by the location of shops, opening under the porticos.

Theatre. Visit from 9 am to 18 pm. Left the theatre, deeply restored. Its modest size is certainly what is striking today. Only twelve rows of stands are found and there is nothing to say that there have been others. The stage wall, rebuilt at the end of the th century, was raised up to the first floor, which further accentuates the intimate character of this place.

The agora. In the west of the theatre, several administrative buildings were identified. The most important is agora. Its large rectangular open courtyard was surrounded by a portico whose base of the drums is still visible; this portico was lined with a wall wall with richly decorated openings. A centre of public life, the agora gave the east on an appendix where, in the 5 th century, the tariff of Palmyra was discovered, a stele of nearly 400 m wide containing more than engraved lines on order of the Senate. This stele set the amount of fees to be paid by caravans entering Palmyra. Much of the city's income came from this right of grant. The stele is now preserved at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

In the appendix, the theatre runs to the main street. In doing so, there are several vestiges of uncertain identification: Senate, Cesareum and Banquet Room.

. The tétrapyle then reaches the centre of an oval square. A major crossroads of the city, the tétrapyle gives access to a column in columns that cut the decumanus to the south. It is easy to recognize the only red granite column imported from Aswan, Egypt. The third segment segment leaves slightly right in the direction of Diocletian's Camp. This portion, the longest of the street (500 m), is also the oldest and serves, on both sides, poorly excavated residential areas. The part is, in the graph plan, revealed several ancient houses and basilicas. The very ground of the track shows in several points the remains of the pipes. A funeral temple welcomes the visitor at the end of the street.

Diocletian's camp. On the left, a new cross-sectional colonnade opens which serves to the right a neighbourhood called Diocletian's camp. This neighbourhood was built thirty years after the bag of Palmyra, at a time when the Roman Empire was threatened by sasanians attacks. A military complex, it included a temple at the signs that were reached by a fly of stairs. It celebrated the ceremonies of the warrior cult. In the face of the temple, a forum and various utility buildings complete the camp.

The. temple. The Mothers temple, founded before our age and located east of the camp, only remains the issuing and the six columns that give on the main via. Before it was ransacked at the end of pagan times, the temple was associated with the cult of the Greek goddess Athena.

The dimensions of the sanctuary, a large square enclosure of 175 m aside, and the state of conservation of the cella placed in its centre make this monument one of the most fabulous of the Roman Middle East after Baalbek.

Such a marvel was obviously not born in one day. It is on the location of a Hellenistic temple than in 32. The cella was dedicated to three deities: Bêl, Yarhibôl and Aglibôl, all three of the palmyrénien pantheon. This construction undoubtedly marks the affirmation of Roman sovereignty in Palmyra. It will then be necessary to wait until the beginning of the th century for the péribole to be enlarged and located in two rows of columns. The entrance gate (the one that locks up the existing counters) was completed only at the end of the th century. The latter wall included a monumental entrance (with stairs) which suffered greatly from the transformation of the sanctuary in place in the th century by the Mameluk. The spectacle of its re-replacement elements inserted into disorder proves the state of decay of the city of the day.

In the vast courtyard of the sanctuary, the eye is immediately drawn from the slightly regulator cella to the northeast. It is still partly surrounded by columns of its peristyle, especially on the east side. The peristyle was covered with slabs worn by also beams of stone. The portal, which has been restored, is of impressive size. The Syrian claw on this building is clearly reflected in the richness of the decoration (palmettes, fruit garlands, foliage…). In the axis of this portal opens the cella, large room 10 m on 30 m which constituted the heart of the temple. Facing, two thalamos, the most sacred part of the temple, which had the statues of the gods.

The left thalamos had a staircase and an annexe room. The richly decorated ceiling bears in its centre the effigy of Jupiter (the star associated with Bêl), surrounded by a first circle representing the six planets and a second bearing the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The southern thalamos is also surmounted by a monolithic bloc weighing several tens of tons, with pure geometric and floral decoration.

The fly of stairs that drove there is well preserved. Two other stairs inside the sacred chamber leading to the roof of the building. The room has a mihrab which attests the transformation of cella into mosque. By leaving the cella, you will note in the courtyard of the sanctuary, left, the traces of a bassin basin and, on the right, those of an altar. Behind the altar was identified the foundations of a banquet room near a processionnaire lane lined with stands that used to drive animals to sacrifice and climb on a gentle slope from the west wall wall.

From the Diocletian's camp (or city), it is possible to win the top of the mountain, which is dominated by the impressive Arab castle, but the ascent is aimed at the athletes and the brave because it is quite difficult. It is recommended that you do it at the cool hours (sunrise or sunset).

A good road bypassing the mountain makes it possible to win the castle by car. The view from the castle divide embraces all the ruins, oasis and tombs. At sunset, the remains are the parent of a subtle draped colour contrasting with the deep green of the oasis. The castle seems to be less impressive than the ruins. Often associated with a th-century Amir of the th century (Fakhr ed-Din), who allegedly said that he was a sling of sling against the Ottoman Empire, the castle came to the th or th centuries, as did the fortification of the temple of Bêl.

Watch the rôdeurs in front of the museum, trying to get you a ticket for the graves, even if you want to visit the museum only. Audioguide in French free at the entrance.

A true gem, this museum deserves to be spent at least one hour's visit. It exhibits superb pieces. Explanations are given in French. The small garden facing the entrance presents a beautiful set of statues, one of which is 3,50 m from the Mothers temple.

Right wing by entering.

Room 1. Very interesting signs present palmyrénienne writing. They complement the very clear explanations of the museum of Deir ez-Zor. On the right wall, one can see the oldest palmyrénienne inscription (44 BC).

Room 2. Model of the temple of Bêl.

Room 3. In front of the entrance, look at the palmyrénien boat with double rudder. Before you reach the next room, you must dwell on the magnificent camel relief packed.

Room 4. See, on the right, a relief depicting the temple of Baalshamin. He represents an eagle to the wings deployed surrounded by two smaller eagles. These are Aglibol (the Moon, left) and Malakbêl (right). See also, mosaics found in private houses and tessères and oil lamps from the great times of Palmyra. In the middle, two very beautiful windows exhibiting fine stone sculptures: statues, heads of personnalités, or many heads of children who give an idea of childhood 2 000 years ago.

Wing on the left. A statue of the Mothers goddess stands in the gallery, a statue of the Déesse goddess.

The following rooms are certainly the most beautiful of the museum. They expose the recent discoveries of 2007.

Room 4. Immediately right on the right, you admire a relief decorated with a funeral banquet scene. The head of the family is richly clothed: leather boots, tunic, large trousers. Other reliefs, from the tomb of Zubida, the heir of a large family of Palmyra, and the tomb of Zabda.

Room 5. Again a funeral banquet scene at the bottom of the room, where a long registration is arranged. All of them spotted the tomb of Bolabrak (a rich Palmyrénien). Registration is a fine example of cursive writing (from top down). Left of this relief, a woman wears her child.

This room, and the next one, highlight the skill of palmyréniens artists. Fatigue or old age features are accentuated on the faces while women are adorned with their beaux.

It is at the foot of Jebel Muntar (front of Palmyra entrance) that the main sources of Palmyra are located. From the outside, the remains of a former sanctuary are displayed below the road, with stone benches whose feet are bathed in water. But it is now forbidden to enter inside (in the bath itself) to appreciate the importance of the source. Indeed, the sanctuary is only the end of a long 350 m deep cave filled with sulphurous water at 33 ° C.

Provide free maps of the site and all the information necessary to visit Palmyra and its region. Practice on condition to be Anglophone.