Terrorists of the "Islamic state" seized the city in May 2015. On March 27, 2016, the Syrian army, with the support of the Russian military, liberated the cultural center of Syria from the militants. Unfortunately, most monuments of Palmyra, which are under the protection of UNESCO, were damaged. What has become with the cultural heritage of the ancient city?
In the photo: a soldier in one of the halls of the National Museum of Palmyra.
The Islamists broke into Palmyra with one intention - to destroy as many monuments as possible. In support of their barbaric goal, they publicly executed the curator of the museum of antiquities and organized the massacre of local residents in the old theater.
In the photo: on the left - the Triumphal arch, which you could admire before the arrival of the ISIS terrorists, on the right - the ruins left after the actions of the militants.
In the summer of 2015, the terrorists of the Islamic State uploaded photos and videos to the Internet showing the destruction of the ancient Baalshamin temple. After it, the terrorists blew up another important monument - Bel's temple.
In the photo: on the left - the Baalshamin temple before the capture of Palmyra, on the right - after the explosion.
The group reached most of the valuable monuments of Palmyra, but forgot to destroy one of the main attractions - tetrakionion.
In the photo: tetrakionion in Palmyra.
Immediately after the liberation of the city from terrorists, experts on monuments of antiquity gathered in Palmyra. Maamun Abdulkarim, a director of the Syrian museums, after surveying the area said: "Palmyra is not lost completely." The expert explained that the settlement could suffer more seriously.
In the photo: on the left - the Palmyra colonnade before the barbarism of the ISIS terrorists, on the right - after.
The militants of the "Islamic state" did not spare the residential areas of Palmyra - they blew up houses, set fire to trees, and left tons of garbage in the streets.
In the photo: Palmyra in 1938. This photo was on the cover of the Russian textbook on the history of the ancient world.
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