Conflict and Looting Threaten Syrian Archaeological Heritage
In May, Interpol joined UNESCO’s warning of “imminent threats” to Syria’s cultural heritage, which is “particularly vulnerable to destruction, damages, theft and looting during this period of turmoil”. The international criminal police organization joined the Syrian National Central Bureau in Damascus in issuing a search for a number of mosaics stolen from the ruins of Apamea in Syria’s Hama province.
Situated on the crossroads of the ancient Orient and Occident, with the Levantine routes of the old Silk Road attracting all manner of art, commerce and culture – as well as conquerors and crusaders, Syria today bears the stamp of millennia of Middle Eastern history.
“The country has layers and layers and layers of civilisation. It’s one of the richest countries in the world in terms of heritage,” says Veronique Dauge, chief of UNESCO’s Arab States Unit. “Syria has six sites on the World Heritage list – which are the ones we tend to focus on – but it does not take away from the others. Syria also has sites on the UNESCO tentative list [that are still being considered] and there are numerous other sites across the country.”
Syria is probably the only country in the world where the political and commercial capitals – Damascus and Aleppo respectively – compete for status of world’s oldest continuously inhabited city. Read more
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