Syria - Preservation and Development - Citadel - Damascus
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Episode 9 - New Goals 1 - Recognise and protect our diverse identities and our
common heritage
Preservation and Development
Project implemented by the Government of Syria
Damascus, Syria
November 2010
Project co-financed by the Ministry for External Affairs, Government of Italy (www.esteri.it/MAE/EN)
Italian aid to Syria is channelled through bilateral and multi lateral agreements where implementing agencies include the UN (such as FAO, UNDP, and UNIDO) and non-government organisations.
As part of its cooperation activities in Syria, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has contributed more than 80 million Euros since 2008 to agriculture, health, economic development, humanitarian aid to Iraqi refugees, energy and natural resource management, and culture. 8% of Italian government funding to Syria, i.e. 6.9million Euros, has been allocated to heritage protection projects.
Italy is known for its old cities, monuments, churches, old buildings paintings, sculptures, and for the immense expertise it has in the preservation and restoration of architectural and artistic heritage. In the field of culture, the Italian government has supported expert archaeological missions to Syria and the restoration and rehabilitation of the Citadel and the National Museum in the city of Damascus. The Citadel of Damascus (or Qala'at Dimashq in Arabic) is a large medieval fortified structure that is part of the Ancient City of Damascus enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979. Italian experts have been working very closely with their Syrian counterparts to complete the restoration work of the two heritage structures. The Italians are also training Syrians on-the-job in restoration and in heritage management so that work can be continued even after the Italian funding agreement is completed. The Italian government has also donated tools and equipments for a restoration laboratory in Damascus.
Some of the Italian archaeological missions include the excavation and archaeological research, restoration, training and enhancement of the ruins of the ancient village of Tell Mardikh -Ebla site and the creation of the Archaeological Park of Ebla, 20 kilometres east of Aleppo; the study and preservation of a Muslim castle in the ruins of Saijar, located on the Orontes to the northwest of Hama, and the south-western quarter of the ancient town of Palmyra, a vital caravan city for travellers crossing the Syrian desert and located halfway between the Mediterranean Sea and the Euphrates.
Thanks to such cooperation initiatives, visitors have become aware of such important heritage sites and can enjoy recreating, within the ruins, the grandiosity and beauty of these towns as they were once upon a time.
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Additional Notes for Palmyra Preservation Activities
Palmyra was known as the Bride of the Desert. Palmyra grew extraordinarily in importance during the Roman Empire between the 1st and the 3rd century AD. The prosperity and wealth of the Palmyra, the "caravan city", according to the Russian historian Rostovzev, was due to its position along the trade routes. The publication of the volume, "The ruins of Palmyra" edited by Robert Wood and James Dawkins, in 1753, aroused great interest in Europe, especially in the wonderful drawings the Italian architect, Giovanni Battista Borra, made on site during his two weeks tour with the two Englishmen, in 1751.
In 2007, as a consequence of the first agreement between the Università degli Studi of Milano and the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums of Damascus (DGAM), a joint Italian-Syrian archaeological mission was formed. Its aim has been is to conduct research in the south-western quarter of Palmyra. This is a central quarter of the ancient city, measuring c.547 x 281 m and c.114.000 m2 wide, delimited by the Agorà, the Diocletian's Walls, the Damascus Transverse Street and the Great Colonnade Street. The mission is also supported by the Ministry for External Affairs of the Government of Italy. The mission has found many important historical evidences that have informed contemporary research on Roman sites.
“Only big findings make news but the public does not know that these are based on intense research carried on every day wherein we continue to find small evidence. The media never communicates the importance of these smaller missions”, complains an Italian archaeologist.
Additional Notes on the Citadel
"The Citadel has been closed to public for many years and will now be open to public as a result of this cooperation. It will now become part of the tourist itinerary that joins the citadel with the old architecture and artefacts of the old city ", says the Italian Ambassador to Syria.
"The Galleries of the Citadel will be utilised for exhibiting mosaics and other artefacts from other monuments and palaces of Syria, including the ones which have been restored by Syrian experts that have been trained by the Italian experts," says a Syrian person working in the cooperation project
The location of the current citadel was first fortified in 1076 by the Turkman warlord Atsiz bin Uvak. It is believed that a citadel stood on this place even during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. After the assassination of Atsiz bin Uvak, the project was finished by the Seljuq ruler Tutush I. The emirs of the subsequent Burid and Zengid dynasties carried out modifications and added new structures to it. During this period, the citadel and the city were besieged several times by Crusader and Muslim armies. In 1174, the citadel was captured by Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, who made it his residence and had the defences and residential buildings modified.
Saladin's brother Al-Adil rebuilt the citadel completely between 1203 and 1216 in response to the development of the counterweight trebuchet. After his death, power struggles broke out between the other Ayyubid princes and although Damascus switched hands several times, the citadel was taken by force only once, in 1239. The citadel remained in Ayyubid hands until the Mongols under their general Kitbuqa captured Damascus in 1260, thereby ending Ayyubid rule in Syria. After an unsuccessful revolt broke out in the citadel, the Mongols had most of it dismantled. After the defeat of the Mongols in 1260 by the Mamluks, who had succeeded the Ayyubids as rulers of Egypt, Damascus came under Mamluk rule. Except for brief periods in 1300 and 1401, when the Mongols conquered Damascus, the Mamluks controlled the citadel until 1516. In that year, Syria fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Damascus surrendered without a fight and from the 17th century onward the citadel functioned as barracks for the Jannisaries—Ottoman infantry units. The citadel started to fall into disrepair in the 19th century and its last military use was in 1925, when French soldiers shelled the old city from the citadel in response to the Great Syrian Revolt against the French Mandate of Syria. The citadel continued to serve as a barracks and prison until 1986, when excavations and restorations started. As of 2011, excavation and restoration efforts are ongoing.
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The Citadel in the city of Damascus and the National Museum is being restored with the support of the Italian Government as part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed with the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic in 2008. Within this agreement, the Syrian Government would receive, for a period of two years, a grant of 20 million Euros and soft loans of 60 million Euros primarily for new interventions in the framework of a coordinated planning process; for projects to be carried out in the north-eastern region of the Country and in sectors where the Italian Cooperation is more actively involved at present like water, health, environment, economic reforms, job creation and cultural heritage.
The Italian aid is channelled through bilateral and multi lateral agreements
where implementing agencies include the UN (such as FAO, UNDP, and UNIDO) and
through cooperation programs involving non-government organisations.
The Citadel of Damascus (Arabic: قلعة دمشق: Qala'at Dimashq) is a large
medieval fortified palace and citadel. It is part of the Ancient City of
Damascus, which was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
"The Citadel has been closed to public for many years and will now be open to public as a result of this cooperation. It will now become part of the tourist itinerary that joins the citadel with the old architecture and artefacts of the old city ", says the Italian Ambassador to Syria.
"The Galleries of the Citadel will be utilised for exhibiting mosaics and other artefacts from other monuments and palaces of Syria, including the ones which have been restored by Syrian experts that have been trained by the Italian experts," says a Syrian person working in the cooperation project
The location of the current citadel was first fortified in 1076 by the Turkman
warlord Atsiz bin Uvak. It is believed that a citadel stood on this place even
during the Hellenistic and Roman periods. After the assassination of Atsiz bin
Uvak, the project was finished by the Seljuq ruler Tutush I. The emirs of the
subsequent Burid and Zengid dynasties carried out modifications and added new
structures to it. During this period, the citadel and the city were besieged
several times by Crusader and Muslim armies. In 1174, the citadel was captured
by Saladin, the Ayyubid sultan of Egypt, who made it his residence and had the
defences and residential buildings modified.
Saladin's brother Al-Adil rebuilt the citadel completely between 1203 and 1216
in response to the development of the counterweight trebuchet. After his
death, power struggles broke out between the other Ayyubid princes and
although Damascus switched hands several times, the citadel was taken by force
only once, in 1239. The citadel remained in Ayyubid hands until the Mongols
under their general Kitbuqa captured Damascus in 1260, thereby ending Ayyubid
rule in Syria. After an unsuccessful revolt broke out in the citadel, the
Mongols had most of it dismantled. After the defeat of the Mongols in 1260 by
the Mamluks, who had succeeded the Ayyubids as rulers of Egypt, Damascus came
under Mamluk rule. Except for brief periods in 1300 and 1401, when the Mongols
conquered Damascus, the Mamluks controlled the citadel until 1516. In that
year, Syria fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire. Damascus surrendered
without a fight and from the 17th century onward the citadel functioned as
barracks for the Jannisaries—Ottoman infantry units. The citadel started to
fall into disrepair in the 19th century and its last military use was in 1925,
when French soldiers shelled the old city from the citadel in response to the
Great Syrian Revolt against the French Mandate of Syria. The citadel continued
to serve as a barracks and prison until 1986, when excavations and
restorations started. As of 2011, excavation and restoration efforts are
ongoing.
Web sites with additional information about the project/action: www.mam-sy.org/
The Italian-Syrian Archaeological Mission
Italy preserving world Heritage
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