Syria, National Museum of Syria, Damascus. The monuments of Dura Europos, all before the capture and abandonment of the city by the Persians in 260 A.D. (temples of the Palmyrene deities, a synagogue and a Christian church) demonstrate the existence of an art more or less foreign to the Hellenistic tradition, and in which features encountered in Byzantine art are already discernible. The frescoes from the synagogue and the Palmyrene temple are preserved in the museum at Damascus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palmyra. Dura Europos synagogue painting, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dura-Europos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Museum_of_Damascus
Syria, Antiochian Orthodox Patriarchate, http://www.orthodoxwiki.org/Church_of_Antioch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_Orthodox_Church_of_Antioch
Syria: Antioch. An impressive number of cities founded by the Seleucids were given this name in honour of their founders, Antiochus I (280-262), Antiochus II (262-237) and Antiochus Epiphanes (174-163). The most important city was Antioch on the Orontes, capital of the Seleucid Empire. Built by Seleucid I in 300 B.C., enlarged by Seleucus II (246-226) and Antiochus IV (174-163), embellished by the Byzantine emperor Theodosius II (408-450), Antioch was for a thousand years a city of great importance, both for its intellectual and for its mercantile activity. The population, reckoned at 500 000 in the Roman period, is thought to have declined to 200 000 after the city was conquered by the Persians in A.D. 260, climbing to 300 000 in the sixth century A.D. The cult of St Peter, who founded the Church of Antioch before that of Rome, was observed there and the Antiochenes were proud to recall that the adjective “Christian” was born in their city. The theological school of Antioch played an important role in the religious controversies of the fourth and fifth centuries and the patriarchs, less powerful than those in Alexandria, enjoyed great authority. The only witnesses to the Antiochene school of painting are the fine mosaics preserved at the museum in Antioch, at the Louvre and in Baltimore.
Syria: Apamea. Mosaic pavement with mythological scenes decorated pathways running beneath porticoes. Fragments of these are exhibited in the Musée du Cinquantenaire, Brussels.
Syria, Damascus, Mosque of the Ummayads: 8th century mosaics.
Syria, Great Mosque of Damascus. Founded by the Ummayad Caliph Al Walid, who ruled in Damascus from 707 to 715. A very ancient cult centre already existed at the very heart of the city. A temple of Jupiter, of which traces remain, had replaced the sanctuary of a Syrian god and in turn given way to a basilica dedicated to St John the Baptist. Al-Walid summoned artists from Constantinople; the materials and labour force both came from Egypt. The texts comment favorably on the richness of the sculptured and mosaic decoration executed by the specialists from Constantinople. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_Mosque
