Serjilla is an abandoned settlement, part of a group of 40 similar sites known as the “Dead Cities” that are organised into 8 archaeological parks in northwest Syria. – HeritageDaily – Archaeology News

Source: Serjilla – The Dead City – HeritageDaily – Archaeology News

From a giant basalt lion to its own Notre-Dame, Idlib’s ancient monuments are in danger.

Source: Forgotten amid the bombs: Idlib’s ancient riches

As air strikes rain down, it is important to highlight the Syrian province’s rich cultural heritage…

Source: Idlib’s ancient treasures could be lost in this war

It was striking as Paris’s landmark site of Notre Dame Cathedral burned before our eyes, how few seemed to know that Notre Dame’s architectural design, its twin towers flanking an elaborate entrance, its rose windows, its rib vaulting and its spire (la fleche) owe their origins to Middle Eastern predecessors. The earliest example says, Arab America contributing writer, Diana Darke, stands on a hillside in northwest Syria, in Idlib province, in a church built from local limestone in the mid-5th century. It’s called Qalb Lozeh (‘Heart of the Almond’ in Arabic) rightly praised as one of the best-preserved examples of Syrian church architecture, a magnificently proportioned broad-aisled basilica, the forerunner of what came to be known as the Romanesque period.

Source: The Heritage of Notre Dame–Less European than People Think

An arched entrance flanked by two towers, elaborate carvings and a broad-aisled nave: a 5th century limestone church in northwestern Syria is the architectural forerunner of France’s famed Notre-Dame cathedral. “The specific similarities between Notre-Dame and Qalb Lozeh are first and foremost, the twin tower design flanking the elaborate arched portal,” says Darke.

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Source: Notre Dame’s architecture inspired by 5th-century gothic church in Syria’s Idlib