Fig. 1. Temple of Bel prior to 2015 destruction by ISIS. (Source: Sandra Auger/Reuters)
An iconic city established 2000 years before the Romans arrived and located in modern day Syria, Palmyra was an illustrious city fabled to have been founded by King Solomon. Sitting at a crossroads of some of the most pivotal trade routes of ancient civilization, Palmyra was a significant center for international cultural exchange and anchoring site for a cultural heritage that was truly emblematic of the interethnic and multicultural exchange between the Greek and Roman, Hellenistic and Byzantine, and East and West. Originally an oasis settlement in the Northern Syrian Desert, Palmyra quickly rose to prominence due to its location at a transitory locus point between critical trade routes, profiting from caravan routes and fertile land. In the 20th century, Palmyra became notorious for its role in military conflict; specifically, a series of spectacular acts of violence and execution carried out by ISIS, and the looting of Palmyra’s antiquities to fund the same organization brought the site to the forefront of archaeological and political discourse in 2015 and 2016.
Just as Babylon and Persepolis became implicated by military occupation of American and British troops, Palmyra as a site was also deeply impacted by the presence of an army who insisted on the destruction of its monuments. ISIS, a resistance group emerging from the Syrian civil war positioning itself against the Syrian government and originally precipitated by discontent with President Bashar-al-Assad in the aftermath of the Arab Springs protest, has occupied a number of archeological sites, including Palmyra.
Fig. 2. Roman amphitheatre at Palmyra. (Source: Omar Sanadiki/Reuters)
ISIS’s occupation of Palmyra has transformed the world heritage site into a stage for brutal violence and instrumentalized the priceless cultural inheritances of Palmyra’s antiquities into financial leverage for the organization. In 2015, ISIS showed a graphic video of the execution of 25 Syrian soldiers at the hands of young ISIS executioners at the Palmyra roman amphitheatre, once the best preserved ancient amphitheatre in the world. In 2015, ISIS toppled the Temple of Baalshamin; the Temple of Bel (see Figure 1). was destroyed and the footage of its destruction circulated on Twitter; in 2016 the archaeological museum of Palmyra was looted and destroyed. But perhaps the most abhorrent act of violence carried out by ISIS jihadists at Palmyra was the beheading of 81-year-old archaeologist Khaled al-Asaad in August of 2015, the guardian and steward of the Palmyra ruins for the past 40 years, for his refusal to reveal the location of many of the antiquities he had saved and hidden from the museum in fear of ISIS-affiliated looters.
Fig. 3. Smoke rises from Temple of Bel amidst detonation of explosives by ISIS. (Source: Social Media/Reuters)
Fig. 4. Temple of Bel as it stands today, in the aftermath of ISIS's destruction of the site. (Source: Omar Sandadiki/Reuters)
Once a thriving trading center, Palmyra’s antiquities have been systematically destroyed, looted, and held hostage, woven into a larger, insidious economy of trading blood antiquities, one of the most lucrative industries in Syria. It is estimated that ISIS accrues an $88 million dollar annual revenue from the illegal trafficking of antiquities.
Fig. 5. Ransacked and looted archaeological museum, stripped of antiquities. (Source: REUTERS / SANA)
A protracted and devastating war, the Syrian civil war has led to the displacement of millions, the destruction of monuments, and the persecution of Christian and pagan populations. The occupation and destruction of Palmyra was not a singular event, but instead, must be situated and understood within a larger pattern of tactical and systematic destruction of sites of religious and cultural significance—and the organized looting and trafficking of antiquities from these sites. Some other sites which have been similarly desecrated include the St. Elian monastery, which was founded in the 5th century CE and toppled by ISIS in 2015; the Great Mosque of Aleppo, which was vandalized and spoliated in 2013 when the minaret was broken to pieces during fighting between the Syrian government and resistance forces; and the Crac de Chevaliers, one of the best examples of Crusader architecture in the middle east, until it was destroyed in 2014 by unidentified attackers, though destruction likely occurred at the hands of both Al Assad’s forces as well as ISIS. Antiquities removed illicitly from these sites and others often take a global trail—antiquities are smuggled to Turkey and Lebanon by land, others go to Switzerland and Germany where dealers falsify a paper trail in concert with conservators, and many end up at auction houses in London and New York, where they are sold lucratively to private collectors.
Though there have been some efforts to restitute antiquities and restore them to their rightful owners, many of Palmyra’s treasures still remain dispersed across the world in private collections, museums, and antique shops. In the wake of ISIS-led destruction and looting, the Temple of Bel, Temple of Baalshamin, the Arch of Triumph, and the column in the Valley of the Tombs lie in ruin. Currently, the site is firmly under the control of the Syrian government, after protracted skirmishes throughout 2016 between ISIS and the Syrian government. UNESCO has dedicated $150,000 towards the safeguarding of the Temple of Bel and many efforts at restoration are underway.
Fig. 6. Arch of Triumph prior to destruction by ISIS. (Source: Sandra Auger/REUTERS)
Fig. 7. Arch of Triumph as it stands today. (Source: Omar Sanadiki/REUTERS)
Under the Emergency Safeguarding of Syrian Cultural Heritage Project by UNESCO, funded by the EU with support of the Flemish government and Austria, the International Center for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property and the International Council on Monuments and Sites have partnered together to restore the social cohesion, stability, and sustained development of Syria through the protection and safeguarding of its material cultural heritage. One particularly evocative example of the restoration work that has been done in recent years at Palmyra is the erection and restoration of the Lion of Al-lat statue, which was previously toppled (see Fig. 8 below).
Fig. 8. Reconstructed Lion of Al-lat. (Source: BCC)
The systematic destruction of world heritage sites as a source of political and economic leverage by religious fanatics and the militarized opposition in Syria, though seemingly distant, is actually a very proximate issue, given the global dissemination of Palmyra’s stolen antiquities. How should collectors conduct themselves when approaching the purchase and collection of unprovenanced items or items with questionable paper trails? What can be done to disrupt the broad-spanning and corrupt network which enables the looting and trafficking of blood antiquities in the first place? The 1970 UNESCO Convention on Antiquities establishes that (1) cultural heritage is a non-renewable resource that belongs to the global community, (2) purchasing artifacts without provenance is a breach of this communal right to cultural heritage, and (3) works of art taken improperly do not belong to international auction houses, private, or public collections, but to the country of origin. Together, these tenets form a clear imperative; however, despite this clear signaling from multilateral agreements, the conditions that incentivize looters to illicitly acquire antiquities still persist, and an expansive network of connections which makes the sale and distribution of blood antiquities possible undeniably exists. It is critical to reexamine possible ways to disrupt these destructive modes of relation to objects and sites which represent important cultural inheritances.