The most beautiful religious buildings 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.

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 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.