Polish experts in Palmyra
PR dla Zagranicy
Paweł Kononczuk
27.04.2016 17:01
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Polish experts in Palmyra
A Polish research mission travelled to Palmyra in Syria in mid-April, days after the city was regained by government forces from Islamic State militants.
Temple of Bel in Palmyra, 2005. Photo: Zeledi/Wikimedia Commons
Palmyra was the site of almost half a century of Polish archeological research, a symbol of which became the monumental Lion of Allat. The statue’s conservator, Bartosz Makowski, was part of the mission.
Although, as he says, the damage to the city’s historical treasures is devastating, there are reasons to be hopeful.
Tomasz Waliszewski, head of the Centre of Mediterranean Archeology at Warsaw University, adds that the international community of archeologists and restorers now faces the question of how to act in a situation where so many cultural heritage sites have been destroyed.