Folio 02 · Heritage

The Archive of ten millennia.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Crusader castles, Bronze Age palaces, Roman colonnades, and living religious traditions — catalogued, dated, and contextualised.

UNESCO 1979

Ancient City of Damascus

3rd millennium BCE – present · Damascus

Continuously inhabited for over 10,000 years

UNESCO 1986

Ancient City of Aleppo

3rd millennium BCE – present · Aleppo

The crossroads of caravans and citadels

UNESCO 1980

Ancient City of Bosra

Nabatean–Roman–Islamic · Daraa Governorate

A black basalt city forged in volcanic stone

UNESCO 1980

Site of Palmyra

1st–3rd century CE · Tadmur, Homs Governorate

The bride of the desert

UNESCO 2011

Ancient Villages of Northern Syria

1st–7th century CE · Idlib & Aleppo Governorates

The Dead Cities of the limestone massif

UNESCO 2006

Crac des Chevaliers

11th–13th century · Homs Governorate

The finest preserved Crusader castle in the world

Castle

Shayzar Castle

Seleucid period – medieval era · Shayzar, Hama Governorate

A limestone fortress above the Orontes River

UNESCO 2006

Qal'at Salah El-Din (Saladin Castle)

10th–12th century · Latakia Governorate

A medieval fortress on a knife-edge ridge

Castle

Citadel of Damascus

Seljuk – Ayyubid period · Old Damascus, Damascus Governorate

An Ayyubid fortress in the Old City that welcomed visitors again in summer 2026

Castle

Citadel of Aleppo

3rd millennium BCE – 16th century CE · Aleppo (within UNESCO Old City)

A tell crowned by a fortress for 5,000 years

Castle

Tartus Fortress (Crusader Tortosa)

12th–13th century · Tartus

The last Crusader stronghold on the Syrian mainland

Archaeological

Ebla (Tell Mardikh)

3rd millennium BCE · Idlib Governorate

A Bronze Age power rediscovered in 1964

Archaeological

Ugarit (Tell Shamra)

2nd millennium BCE · Latakia Governorate

Birthplace of the world's earliest alphabet

Archaeological

Mari (Tell Hariri)

3rd–2nd millennium BCE · Deir ez-Zor Governorate

Sumerian metropolis on the Euphrates

Archaeological

Dura-Europos

3rd century BCE – 3rd century CE · Deir ez-Zor Governorate

The Pompeii of the Syrian desert

Ancient City

Apamea (Afamia)

Hellenistic–Roman · Hama Governorate

A two-kilometre Roman colonnade

Religious

Umayyad Mosque of Damascus

705 CE · Old City of Damascus

The fourth-holiest site in Islam

Living Aramaic Villages

Ma'loula

Roman – present · Rif Dimashq

Where Western Aramaic is still spoken

Religious

Yabrud

Paleolithic – present · Rif Dimashq

One of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on Earth

Religious

Saydnaya

547 CE – present · Rif Dimashq

A mountain pilgrimage for fifteen centuries

UNESCO 2011

Church of Saint Simeon Stylites

5th century CE · Mount Simeon, Aleppo governorate

The largest church of the Christian world before Hagia Sophia

Castle

Marqab Citadel (Qalaat al-Marqab)

1062–1285 CE · Baniyas, Tartus governorate

The black basalt watchtower of the Crusader coast

Castle

Masyaf Castle

11th–13th century CE · Masyaf, Hama governorate

Mountain seat of the Order of Assassins

Archaeological

Amrit (Marathus)

3rd millennium BCE – 2nd century BCE · South of Tartus

A Phoenician sanctuary with a Persian soul

Ancient City

Arwad Island

2nd millennium BCE – present · 3 km off Tartus

Syria's only inhabited island — and its last Crusader stand

Ancient City

Resafa (Sergiopolis)

1st–13th century CE · Steppe south of Raqqa

A gypsum city that glows white in the desert

Ancient City

Halabiye (Zenobia)

3rd–6th century CE · Euphrates gorge, Deir ez-Zor governorate

Queen Zenobia's fortress above the Euphrates

Archaeological

Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi

728–729 CE · Badia steppe, north-east of Palmyra

An Umayyad desert city built in a single reign

Archaeological

Norias of Hama

Roman origins; present wheels 13th–18th century · Hama, on the Orontes

Wooden giants that have groaned on the Orontes for 800 years

Ancient City

Cyrrhus (Nabi Huri)

300 BCE – 12th century CE · North of Aleppo, near Afrin

A Hellenistic capital with Roman bridges still carrying traffic

Castle

Qalaat Ja'bar

11th–13th century CE · Lake Assad, Raqqa governorate

A red-brick island fortress on the Euphrates lake

Historic photograph taken before the 2018 damage · Dosseman / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Archaeological

Ain Dara Temple

Iron Age, c. 1300–740 BCE · Near Afrin, Aleppo

Basalt lions, sphinxes and carved footprints

The Zakkur Stele from Tell Afis, photographed in a museum; not a photograph of the mound · Rama / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 fr

Archaeological

Tell Afis (Hazrek)

Iron Age Aramaean center · Idlib countryside

Fortification walls, sacred building and the Zakkur Stele

Janet Biehl / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

Archaeological

Tell Halaf (Guzana)

Iron Age, Bit-Bahiani · Khabur River, Al-Hasakah

Palace orthostats and monumental sculpture

Historic photograph of Tell Ahmar across the Euphrates, 1910 · D. G. Hogarth (1910) / Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

Archaeological

Tell Ahmar (Til Barsib)

Iron Age, Bit-Adini · Upper Euphrates, Aleppo

Upper Euphrates tell and Assyrian-period murals

Assyrian-period relief from Hadatu, photographed in Istanbul; not a photograph of the site · Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0

Archaeological