Islamic State blew up the ancient temple of Baal Shamin in the Unesco-listed Syrian city of Palmyra, the country’s antiquities chief has said. [...]
Baal Shamin was built in 17AD and it was expanded under the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian in 130AD. Known as the Pearl of the Desert, Palmyra, which means City of Palms, is a well-preserved oasis 130 miles north-east of Damascus.
— theguardian.com
Reports of the destruction of the Unesco-listed Baalshamin temple surfaced only days after the news broke that ISIS militants had beheaded Khaled Al-Asaad, a leading Syrian archaeologist and unrivaled Palmyra expert.
Meanwhile destruction in the name of so called "cultural cleansing" is also being reported from other parts of Syria, where ISIS is believed to have bulldozed the 1,500-year-old Catholic monastery of Mar Elian near the town of Qaryatain. The church had housed frescoes that may date back to the sixth century — likely the oldest Christian paintings in Syria.
Previously in the Archinect news:
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