{"id":89723,"date":"2026-02-18T06:00:38","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T11:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/?p=89723"},"modified":"2026-02-18T07:56:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:56:10","slug":"palmyra-in-ruins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblicalarchaeology.org\/daily\/archaeology-today\/palmyra-in-ruins\/","title":{"rendered":"Palmyra in Ruins"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The temple of Bel in Palmyra before its destruction. James Gordon from Los Angeles, California, USA<\/a>, CC BY 2.0<\/a>, via Wikimedia Commons.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

Following the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, archaeologists and residents have begun to return to the ancient city of Palmyra. Before the start of the Syrian Civil War, Palmyra\u2014located in central Syria and one of the country\u2019s six UNESCO World Heritage sites\u2014received nearly 2 million visitors a year. After more than a decade of heavy conflict, little of the city\u2019s awe-inspiring monuments remain. According to a new report by the Spanish National Research Center<\/a>, around 80 percent of the modern city is destroyed and all of its major archaeological monuments have suffered heavy damage or are completely ruined.<\/p>\n

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FREE ebook: From Babylon to Baghdad. Ancient Iraq<\/strong>. Learn about Iraq and its cultural heritage. Download now.<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t