Syria's heritage in ruins: before-and-after pictures

[KamaAina]

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/26/syria-heritage-in-ruins-before-and-after-pictures

They were sleepy tree-lined boulevards where people lived and worked, time-worn markets where they came to trade and exquisitely detailed mosques where, throughout the ages, they prayed.

All now stand in ruins, ravaged by a war that is not only killing generations of Syrians but also eradicating all around them, including sites that have stood since the dawn of civilisation. Across Syria, where a seemingly unstoppable war is about to enter a third year, a heritage built over 5,000 years or more is being steadily buried under rubble.

The destruction of towns and villages is regularly revealed by raw, and often revolting, videos uploaded to the web, which many people stopped watching long ago. Only seldomly do the shaky images reveal the damage being done beyond the battle – to ancient churches, stone Crusader fortresses and ruins that have stood firm during several millennia of insurrection and purge but are being withered away by this unforgiving war.

Syria's war has claimed more than 130,000 lives. At least two million of its citizens have fled into neighbouring states and more than two million others have been displaced within its borders. Industry and economy has long ground to a halt. Hope too has been on a relentless slide. Syria has six Unesco sites, representing at least 2,000 years of history. All have been damaged.

[Paper Roses]

1. This is the story of the whole Middle East.

Sad to see world heritage destroyed.
Generations to come will shake their heads.
How far we have fallen.

[LanternWaste]

2. Syria has one of the most well-preserved examples of the Crusader architecture

I do paper-modelling of Crusader and Norman castles* hence my interest in this post, and Syria had one of the most (up to know) well-preserved examples of the Crusader architecture, the Krak des Chevaliers in existence. Though in the past five years, it's been victimized approximately a half dozen times during the conflict (three shelling attacks and three air-strikes I know of to date).

Unfortunately, Assad is denying volunteers from the UNESCO World Heritage Site fund from examine and cataloging the damage.



*paper modeling results in something like this...

[former9thward]

6. I have visited Krak des Chevaliers a couple times.

Picture of a Syrian friend of mine and his father that I took on top of the castle.



Picture of part of the castle ruins.

[Liberal_in_LA]

3. Kick

[smirkymonkey]

4. How tragic!

[Matariki]

5. Such a tragedy.