754 Items
Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi
Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi is the western of the two famous Umayyad palaces built to the east and west of Palmyra. This palace was built on the site of an earlier building and the stone tower still extant from that earlier phase has an inscription suggesting that it may have been part of a C6th monastery complex. The Qasr ("little castle") was built of mud brick, field stone and bricks and the whole was covered with a layer of stucco. The façade was covered with stucco decoration that was excavated from the site in the early C20th and reconstructed in Damascus as the façade of the National Museum. The frescoes and a number of stucco figurative three dimensional sculptures taken from the site are now on display in the National Museum.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Byzantine, Castle, Fresco, Khan, Monastery, Palmyra, Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, Sculpture, Stucco, Syria, Umayyad
Ghonthur
Ghonthur is a hamlet in the Syrian desert between Homs and Palmyra that still preserves some of the mud brick "beehive houses" that were historically the indigenous domestic architecture of the region.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Desert, Ghonthur, Syria
Hammam Abu Rabah
Hammam Abu Rabah gets its name because sulphurous steam rises from underground at the site and rooms have been built to harness this steam for use as a sauna. To the west of the "baths" is a substantial medieval ruin, possibly of a Khan/Caravanserai.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Bath, Caravanserai, Desert, Khan, Medieval, Syria
Views looking east from Deir Mar Musa
Views looking eastwards from the central courtyard of Deir Mar Musa over the desert.
Type: Landscape
Tags: An Nabk, Deir Mar Musa, Desert, Landscape, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Syria
Dayr al Hayek 
Dayr al Hayek means "the monastery of the weaver" and is a cave south of Deir Mar Musa. The archaeological evidence found in the cave suggests that it was inhabited by a hermit in the early phase of the monastery when it was a lava. This means that the monks lived in cells/caves around the central monastic buildings and came together only for communal prayer at specific times. The cave was named due to the fact that a loom was discovered there. A new building now envelops the cave as an annexe to the main monastery of Deir Mar Musa.
Type: Landscape
Tags: An Nabk, Cave, Dayr al Hayek, Deir Mar Musa, Lavra, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria
Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi
These views of the monastery are from the south, looking north. The western part of the monastery on this side is believed to date back to the Roman period and is now used as a kitchen and the south eastern part is a new addition to the monastic library and additional bathroom facilities. On the northern side of the monastery is the chapel, which dated back to the C6th although the roof was raised and it was altered in the C11th. The fortified section to the west has been attributed to the C14th-C15th.
Type: Architecture
Tags: An Nabk, Architecture, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria
Courtyard view of Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi
View of the monastery courtyard.
Type: Architecture
Tags: An Nabk, Architecture, Church, Deir Mar Musa, Mar Musa al-Habashi, Monastery, Syria
Bowl
This bowl was donated to DMEAP by a local family to be placed in the small museum that was set up in the monastery to display finds with the agreement of the DGAM.
Type: Portable Object
Tags: Bowl, Ceramic, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War
Glass vessel fragments
Fragments from a glass vessel that was found in Dayr Mar Elian.
Type: Archaeological Find
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeological Finds, Dayr Mar Elian, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Glass, Syria, Syrian Civil War, Vessel
Fragments of glass bangle
Throughout the site we found evidence of glass bangles. Predominantly blue in colour, some had elaborate decoration although others were far cruder and simpler.
Type: Archaeological Find
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Archaeological Finds, Bangle, Dayr Mar Elian Archaeological Project, Glass, Qaryatayn, Syria, Syrian Civil War