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
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 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
Religious
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