Damascus:
Damascus City
History:
Damascus
is the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. It has
occupied a position of importance in the fields of science, culture,
politics, art, commerce, and industry from the earliest times.
VISITING DAMASCUS:
It is impossible to enumerate all the places of interest in Damascus. The city is a living museum spanning thousands of years. One can only review the most important landmarks in the old part (within city-walls) and the new part (outside city-walls) of the city.
VISITING DAMASCUS:
It is impossible to enumerate all the places of interest in Damascus. The city is a living museum spanning thousands of years. One can only review the most important landmarks in the old part (within city-walls) and the new part (outside city-walls) of the city.
Maaluola:
Maaloula, copy right @ministry of tourism Syria
By far, the most important Christian site in Syria, is the magnificent village of Maaloula. In Syria it means "the entrance", probably referring to the gorge in between the mountains. Maaloula is the only village in the world that still speaks Aramaic, the language of Jesus Christ.
Seidnaya:
Seidnaya, copy right @ministry of tourism Syria
This village, where houses are built around a rock with a very old monastery at the top, is considered a place for religious pilgrimage. A steep climb is the only way up to the monastery, which is said to date back to the Emperor Justinian. Legend has it that the Virgin Mary appeared to Justinian and asked him to found the monastery. After entering through a maze of passages you finally reach the Chapel of the Virgin. This chapel was very famous to Christians and at one point was the second Christian place of pilgrimage after Jerusalem.
Bosra:
Bosra, copy right @ministry of tourism Syria
Situated 140 Km south of Damascus in the Horan plain, is the ancient city of Bostra . This city of Bostra , was first mentioned in the Hieroglyphics of Thutmos III and Akhnatoun in the 14th century BC, and 1000 years later was the capital of the Nabatean kingdom under the name of Bostra. Later in the Hellenistic era it bore the name of Bostra. Bosra, grew the most under the Romans, who paid great attention to it and was named Niatrojana Bostra as the capital of the state of Djezire under the king Trojan. It was later attacked by Zenobia in 268 AD, however she only occupied it for a while and did not leave her mark. In the Byzantine period Bosra became the seat of an archbishop who was in charge of 33 bishops in the area.
Shahba:
Swidaa, Shahba,copy right @ministry of tourism Syria
Shahba was founded by the Emperor Philip the Arab, who built it as a symbolic capital dedicated to his family during his reign between 244 and 249 AD. However the building of this city was stopped abruptly at his death and was never finished. It was left abandoned for several centuries until the Druze reoccupied the area after emigrating from Lebanon .