Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and known as the “Dead Cities”, or “Forgotten Cities”, they form a set of 40 towns and villages dating from Late Antiquity and the Byzantine period, spread over eight parks in the provinces of Idleb and Aleppo, in northwestern Syria.
The “Dead Cities” “gather the largest number of archaeological sites […] in the world”, with their 800 places – remains of houses, religious buildings or hydraulic installations – some of which are in a remarkable state of preservation, writes the Syrian opposition site Enab Baladi.
But the war that has shaken Syria since 2011 has not spared this precious heritage and, more broadly, the country’s archaeological and historical sites. First there was “aerial bombings and barrel bombs”, then, secondly, “urban sprawl” due to overpopulation in this region which constitutes the most important bastion still escaping the control of Bashar El-Assad’s regime.
A high population density
A demographic pressure that could push some to “transforming archaeological sites into places of residence with high rents” or at “to build new houses with their stones”.
Faced with this situation, NGOs are mobilizing, in particular the Syrian organization The Day After [“Le jour d’après”], which claims to be part of the opposition to the regime in place. The latter, which brings together Syrian archaeologists and engineers specializing in excavations, restoration and documentation, has set itself the task of working for the protection of the Syrian cultural heritage.
With The Arc/K Project and Artive, two other NGOs based in the United States, The Day After set up a 3D modeling project for archaeological sites, particularly those located in northwest Syria, for professional purposes, but also for “raise local population’s awareness of the importance of archaeological sites”.