Damascus - Sana
In the center of the capital, Damascus, in the area of “Al-Baramkeh”, one of the most visited destinations in Syria is the most important Arab museum. It is the “National Museum” carrying its international human value, including among its flanks, the most prominent discovered Syrian antiquities covering thousands of years and representing some of our ancient history.
The first phase of the Damascus Museum building was constructed in 1936, where the first pavilion was dedicated to Syrian antiquities in the eras of Greece and the Romans and to the effects of Arab and Islamic art. Then the rest of the pavilions were constructed in stages to become one of the ten most important museums in the world according to the classification of the British Museum.
The museum includes five main sections, the first section is "prehistoric monuments" in which flint and bone tools and some human and animal bones are presented from prehistoric sites such as "Alkom and Tel Ash" and others.
The second section, “Ancient Syrian Antiquities”, contains holdings from Ugarit, “Ras Shamra, Mari,“ Tel Hariri ”, Ebla,“ Tel Mardikh, ”and the tributaries of“ Tel Rifaat, ”Tel Sukas, and Tel Khuwayrah, and the effects of coastal, central and interior regions in Syria.
The third section is devoted to Syrian antiquities during the reigns of Greece, the Romans and the Byzantines and includes pieces of Palmyra and the governorates of Daraa and Suwayda in addition to sculptures, textiles, coins, weapons, jewelry, monuments, tombs, glass pieces, pottery, and mosaics.
The fourth section is devoted to Arab and Islamic monuments and includes the façade and monuments of the Umayyad Palace of Al-Hayr, the ruins of Raqqa, Hama, Pottery, Pottery, Plaster Decorations, Numismatics, Archives, and Textiles in addition to the Levant Hall.
The fifth section of modern and contemporary art displays the paintings of pioneering artists since the beginning of the twentieth century, such as Said Tahsin, Mahmoud Jalal, Michel Karsha, Nazem Al-Jaafari and Nasir Shura, as well as sculptures and modern art masterpieces "pottery, glass and cash", while the museum garden includes a group of huge archaeological stone artifacts dating back to different eras.
The entrance of the museum, which is decorated with the façade of the Western Al-Heer Palace, which was transferred from the Palmyra desert, in turn contains fresco panels representing the masterpieces of photography in the Umayyad period with examples of sculpture.
The museum witnessed a number of renovations and developments, including the modernization of display styles to cope with the development in museum science worldwide.
In light of the terrorist war on Syria, the museum closed its doors for seven years, to welcome its visitors since 2018.
In the current situation and the application of quarantine measures to prevent corona virus, the museum will regain some of its glory when hosting activities for the "culture in your home" event through a musical evening for the National Symphony Orchestra carrying between its past the past and a picture of Syria's cultural history through the language of the world "music".
Rasha Mahfoud
