Syria: what to see in the ancient land of Aleppo and Damascus


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What to see in Syria, itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest in the land where the ancient cities of Aleppo and Damascus are located.


Tourist information

An ancient land with a glorious past, Syria offers visitors many places of great historical and cultural interest.

The city of Aleppo, located in the Orontes valley in the north of Syria, after Damascus is the most important city in the country.


Inhabited since ancient times by very different peoples, it has ancient origins, some remains found date back to the third millennium BC.

The citadel, which dominates from its 50 meters high, is located in the center of the city and is surrounded by fortified walls and a large moat.

Inside you can visit a portion of the Royal Palace, the public baths, the Small and the Great Mosque.


The old town is very suggestive, crossed by an intertwining of narrow streets that lead to souks of all kinds, with characteristic colors and smells.

The Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque, was founded around 715 by Caliph Al Walid and later destroyed by a fire that left only the minaret intact.

The reconstruction was carried out in the twelfth century by Nur al-Din.


The Al-Halawiyya madrasa, originally Byzantine cathedral, stands out for its beautiful columns topped by fifth-century Byzantine capitals.

The ancient neighborhood of Al-Jadidah, inhabited by the Christian bourgeoisie of Armenian origin, is characterized by beautiful houses surrounded by spacious and elegant gardens.

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Do not miss a visit to the National Museum which, through archaeological evidence, documents the fascinating history of Syria and the Middle East.

At a distance of about 30 km north-west of Aleppo, there are the ruins of a basilica built in honor of San Simeone Stilita.

The church was built between 476 and 491, around the column where the Christian ascetic lived for 37 years.

Simeone stood on a small platform at the top of the column, prayed and received many visitors who came to him for a blessing or to ask for advice.

After him other people followed his example and were called stiliti, termne deriving from the Greek word stilo, which means pillar.

On the right bank of the Oronte river, about 55 km from Hama, there is the important archaeological site of Apamea, an ancient Greek and then Roman city.

Apamea was the name of the Persian wife of Seleucus I Nicator, who around 300 B.C. he built the first acropolis, on top of the hill, where a population of farmers lived since the Neolithic Age.


The city quickly became one of the most flourishing centers of the Seleucid kingdom, and even in the Roman period it did not lose its importance.

At the beginning of the fourth century AD, the city became a center of philosophical studies, as the philosopher Giamblico founded and directed the Neoplatonic school there.

Two earthquakes, which occurred in the twelfth century AD, almost completely destroyed the city.

On the site you can admire very interesting remains, in particular from the Roman and Byzantine periods, including the Door of Antioch, the Via Colonnata, the Baths and the Monumental Column, the Agora and Temple of Zeus Belos, the Roman Theater, the Citadel and the Caravanserraglio, now transformed into an archaeological museum where the Apamea mosaics are kept.

About 150 km south of Aleppo is the city of Hama.

The city has very ancient origins, dating back to the Hittite era.


Crossed by the Oronte river, it is famous for Le Noire, whose origin dates back to the fourth century AD.

These are large wooden wheels that lift the water from the river, to lead it, through some stone pipes, as far as possible from the banks, to be able to water the gardens overlooking the Orontes.

About 60 km south-west of Hama, halfway between Aleppo and Damascus, there is the Krak dei Cavalieri, a medieval military fortress witnessing the presence of the Christian crusaders in these places.

It was built on a hill, in a strategic position in order to control the Homs pass from which the Mediterranean coast was accessed.

The fortress is very large, occupies an area of ​​about 3 hectares, has 13 large towers and includes numerous halls, passages and bridges.

Palmyra is located in a green oasis about 210 km north-east of Damascus.

Ancient caravan center, stopping place for those who crossed the Syrian desert, the city is mentioned for the first time in the second millennium BC.

Its fascinating ruins testify to the importance and wealth of Palmyra in the ancient world.

It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Maaloula is a small village perched on the mountain, some fifty kilometers away from Damascus.

In this village with white and blue houses perched on the rocky wall there are two monasteries connected together by a canyon, San Sergio and Santa Tecla.

Note that Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken in Maaloula.


What see

Near Damascus is the Seydnaya convent dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

It is a very important pilgrimage destination for the Christian east.

The convent was built by the Emperor Justinian at the point where he had an apparition of the Madonna.

It is found perched on a rocky outcrop, and inside it is preserved an icon of the Virgin Mary, highly venerated, which would have been painted by San Luca.

About 60 km south of Aleppo is Tell Mardikh, where important excavations are underway which have brought to light the remains of Ebla, the ancient capital of pre-classical Syria, discovered in 1962 by an Italian archaeological mission directed by Professor Paolo Matthiae, director of the Italian expedition that has been working on the excavations since 1964, carried out thanks to a collaboration with the Syrian government and the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Although Ebla was a powerful city with imperialist ambitions and was at the center of thriving trade, it suffered the assaults of stronger armies that determined its destruction.

The excavations revealed the urban structure of the fortified city and the Royal Palace. where the state archives were found, which provide valuable information, as well as tablets and other very interesting finds.

Damascus is the capital of Syria, it is located at the foot of the Antiliban on the banks of the Barada river, in the Ghouta Oasis on a plateau at 690 meters above sea level.

It is a city rich in history with ancient origins, Aramaic capital in the eleventh century BC.

Conquered by the Romans, it underwent many dominations before the Arab conquest.

In the sixteenth century it was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire, followed by a short period of Egyptian rule.

In 1922 it was occupied by the French.


In 1944 it became the capital of the independent state of Syria.

Each era has left its mark, many archaeological sites and architectural works, coming from the Roman-Byzantine and Islamic civilizations, are present in the city.

The old city is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, you can also admire the Umayyad Mosque, the Museum of Arabic Epigraphy, the ancient Koranic schools Madrase Zahiriyah and Adiliyah, the Assagha suq, the Azem palace, the Nour edDin street ashShahidil, the Hamidiyah souk, the Recta street and the Christian quarter.

In the new city there are the High Court of Justice, which occupies the ancient caravanserai of Ibrahim Pasha, the Craft Souk, the National Museum, the complex of At-Takiyah as-Sulaymaniyah.

Bosra is located in southern Syria, an important center since the second century BC, at the time of the Nabataean kingdom, and the ancient capital of the Arab Province, in Roman times.

In the second century it became an episcopal see and played an important role in the spread of the Christian religion, until the Arab conquest.

Bosra was located in a strategic point, in the center of the caravan routes and was also a stopping place for pilgrims who went to Mecca.

In the Ottoman era the city gradually lost importance.

Today Bosra is an interesting archaeological site, with a splendid Roman Theater, returned to the light in a good state of conservation, after long excavation works.

The ancient city of Bosra is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

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