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Top Attractions in Homs Governorate

Krak des Chevaliers

Krak des Chevaliersalso Crac des Chevaliers, is a Crusader castle in Syria and one of the most important preserved medieval castles in the world. The site was first inhabited in the 11th century by a settlement of Kurds; as a result it was known as Hisn al Akrad, meaning the "Castle of the Kurds". In 1142 it was given by Raymond II, Count of Tripoli, to the Knights Hospitaller. It remained in their possession until it fell in 1271. It became known as Crac de lOspital; the name Krak des Chevaliers was coined in the 19th century. The Hospitallers began rebuilding the castle in the 1140s and were finished by 1170 when an earthquake damaged the castle. The order controlled a number of castles along the border of the County of Tripoli, a state founded after the First Crusade. Krak des Chevaliers was amongst the most important and acted as a centre of administration as well as a military base. After a second phase of building was undertaken in the 13th century, Krak des Chevaliers became a concentric castle. This phase created the outer wall and gave the castle its current appearance. The first half of the century has been described as Krak des Chevaliers "golden age". At its peak, Krak des Chevaliers housed a garrison of around 2,000. Such a large garrison allowed the Hospitallers to extract tribute from a wide area. From the 1250s the fortunes of the Knights Hospitaller took a turn for the worse and in 1271 Mamluk Sultan Baibars captured Krak des Chevaliers after a siege lasting 36 days, supposedly by way of a forged letter purportedly from the Hospitallers Grand Master that caused the Knights to surrender. Renewed interest in Crusader castles in the 19th century led to the investigation of Krak des Chevaliers, and architectural plans were drawn up. In the late 19th or early 20th century a settlement had been created within the castle, causing damage to its fabric. The 500 inhabitants were moved in 1933 and the castle was given over to the French state, which carried out a programme of clearing and restoration. When Syria declared independence in 1946, it assumed control. Today, a village called al-Husn exists around the castle and has a population of nearly 9,000. Krak des Chevaliers is located approximately 40 kilometres west of the city of Homs, close to the border of Lebanon, and is administratively part of the Homs Governorate. Since 2006, the castles of Krak des Chevaliers and Qalat Salah El-Din have been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. it was partially damaged in the Syrian civil war from shelling, although the full extent of the damage is unknown.

Homs

Homs, previously known as Emesa, is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is 501 metres above sea level and is located 162 kilometres north of Damascus. Located on the Orontes River, Homs is also the central link between the interior cities and the Mediterranean coast. Previous to the civil war, Homs was a major industrial centre, and with a population of at least 652,609 people in 2004, it was the third largest city in Syria after Aleppo to the north and the capital Damascus to the south. Its population reflects Syrias general religious diversity, composed mostly of Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslims and Alawite and Christian minorities. There are a number of historic mosques and churches in the city, and it is close to the Krak des Chevaliers castle, a world heritage site. Homs did not emerge into the historical record until the 1st century BCE at the time of the Seleucids. It later became the capital of a kingdom ruled by the Emesani dynasty who gave the city its name. Originally a center of worship for the sun god El-Gabal, it later gained importance in Christianity under the Byzantines. Homs was conquered by the Muslims in the 7th-century and made capital of a district that bore its current name. Throughout the Islamic era, Muslim dynasties contending for control of Syria sought after Homs due to the citys strategic position in the area. Homs began to decline under the Ottomans and only in the 19th century did the city regain its economic importance when its cotton industry boomed. During French Mandate rule, the city became a center of insurrection and, after independence in 1946, a center of Baathist resistance to the first Syrian governments. In the ongoing Syrian civil war, Homs became an opposition stronghold and the Syrian government launched a military assault against the city in May 2011. By 14 January 2014, the government was in control of Homs except for the Old City, which remains in rebel hands and is under government siege. The Syrian armys artillery shelling and warplane bombing has left much of the city completely destroyed and thousands dead. In May 2014, rebel forces withdrew from all areas in Homs as per a truce.

Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi

Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi castle, located 80 km south-west of Palmyra on the Damascus road in Syria, is a twin palace with Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi, built by the Umayyad caliph Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik in 727 CE. It was built in the Byzantine architectural style. It was used as an eye of the king during the Umayyad era, to control the movement of the desert tribes and to be a barrier against them, as well as being a hunting chalet. Later it was utilized by the Ayyubids and the Mamelukes but was abandoned permanently after the Mongol invasions. The castle is quadrangular in outline with 70-meter sides. The central doorway to the castle is very attractive, and has been moved to the National Museum of Damascus to be used as the entrance. Its semi-cylindrical towers on the sides of the doorway, columns, and the geometric shapes mirrored a blend of Persian, Byzantine and Arab architecture. Not much remained from the castle. Only visible is a reservoir to collect water from Harbaka dam, a bath and a khan. The gateway is preserved as a façade in the National Museum of Damascus.

Siege of Damascus

The Siege of Damascus took place between 24 July and 29 July 1148, during the Second Crusade. It ended in a decisive crusader defeat and led to the disintegration of the crusade. The two main Christian forces that marched to the Holy Land in response to Pope Eugene III and Bernard of Clairvaux's call for the Second Crusade were led by Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. Both faced disastrous marches across Anatolia in the months that followed, with most of their armies being destroyed. The original focus of the crusade was Edessa , but in Jerusalem, the preferred target of King Baldwin III and the Knights Templar was Damascus. At the Council of Acre, magnates from France, Germany, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem decided to divert the crusade to Damascus. The crusaders decided to attack Damascus from the west, where orchards would provide them with a constant food supply. Having arrived outside the walls of the city, they immediately put it to siege, using wood from the orchards. On 27 July, the crusaders decided to move to the plain on the eastern side of the city, which was less heavily fortified but had much less food and water. Nur ad-Din Zangi arrived with Muslim reinforcements and cut off the crusader's route to their previous position. The local crusader lords refused to carry on with the siege, and the three kings had no choice but to abandon the city. The entire crusader army retreated back to Jerusalem by 28 July.

Tadmur (Palmyra)

Palmyra is an ancient Semitic city in present Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic and the city was first documented in the early second millennium BC as a caravan stop for travellers crossing the Syrian Desert. The city was noted in the annals of the Assyrian kings, and may have been mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Palmyra was a part of the Seleucid Empire and prospered after its incorporation into the Roman Empire in the first century. The city's wealth enabled the construction of monumental projects. By the third century AD, Palmyra was a prosperous metropolis and regional center. Before 273 it enjoyed autonomy for much of its existence. It was attached to the Roman province of Syria and its political organization was influenced by the Greek city-state model during the first two centuries AD. The city was governed by a senate, which was responsible for public works and the military. After becoming a colonia during the third century, Palmyra incorporated Roman governing institutions before adopting a monarchical system in 260. The city received its wealth from trade caravans; the Palmyrenes, renowned merchants, established colonies along the Silk Road and operated throughout the Roman Empire. The Palmyrenes were primarily a mix of Amorites, Arameans and Arabs, with a Jewish minority. The city's social structure was tribal, and its inhabitants spoke Palmyrene ; Greek was used for commercial and diplomatic purposes. The culture of Palmyra, influenced by those of the Greco-Roman world and Persia, produced distinctive art and architecture. The city's inhabitants worshiped local deities and Mesopotamian and Arab gods. In 260 the Palmyrene king Odaenathus defeated the Persian emperor Shapur I. He fought several battles against the Persians before his assassination in 267. Odaenathus was succeeded by his two young sons under the regency of Queen Zenobia, who rebelled against Rome and began invading its eastern provinces in 270. The Palmyrene rulers adopted imperial titles in 271; the Roman emperor Aurelian defeated the city in 272, destroying it in 273 after a failed second rebellion. Palmyra was a minor center under the Byzantines, Rashiduns, Ummayads, Abbasids, Mamluks and their vassals. The Palmyrenes converted to Christianity during the fourth century and to Islam in the second half of the first millennium, and the Palmyrene and Greek languages were replaced by Arabic. The city—destroyed by the Timurids in 1400—remained a small village under the Ottomans until 1918, followed by the Syrian kingdom and the French Mandate. In 1929, the French began moving villagers into the new village of Tadmur. The transfer was completed in 1932, with the site abandoned and available for excavations. In 2015, Palmyra came under the control of the militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant which later destroyed a number of the site's buildings.

Gates of Homs

The Gates of Homs refer to gates of the city of Homs in central Syria. Historically under the Abbasid dynasty, the city had seven gates. They were the following: Bab al-Souq , thought to have been located on the southwestern corner of the al-Nouri Mosque. Bab Tadmor located on the northeastern side of the wall. Bab al-Dreib located on the eastern side of the wall. Bab al-Sebaa located east of the citadel, and leads to the Old City. Bab al-Turkman located on the northwestern corner of the citadel at a point where it intersects with the walls. Bab al-Masdoud located to the north of Bab al-Turkman. Bab Hud , named after the mausoleum of the prophet Hud, which lies just south of the gate. The Ottomans tore down most of the gates in the 19th century. Only three gates (Bab Tadmor, Bab Hud and Bab al-Dreib) and a small strip of the city walls remain intact.

Saint Mary Church of the Holy Belt

Saint Mary Church of the Holy Belt is a historical Syriac Orthodox Church in Homs, Syria. The church is built over an underground church dating back to 50 AD. It is the seat of the Syriac Orthodox archbishopric. The church contains a venerated relic that is supposed to be a section of the belt of Mary mother of Jesus. This is the Syriac churchs equivalent of the Cincture of the Theotokos of the Greek Orthodox Church, now in Vatopedi Monastery, Mount Athos, and the Catholic Girdle of Thomas in Prato Cathedral in Italy. All are related to the same legend of the Virgin Mary giving the Apostle Thomas her belt as proof of the Dormition of the Theotokos . The church was used as a shield by the opposition armed groups during the 2011-2012 Syrian unrest, and was damaged during confrontations between the armed opposition and the security forces. Later confrontations caused extensive damage to the exterior of the church.

Monastery of St. Elian

The Monastery of St. Elian is or was a Syrian Catholic monastery near the town of Al-Qaryatayn, on the road to Palmyra, in the Homs Governorate of central Syria. It was destroyed on 21 August 2015 by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant , whose acts of terror in the Syrian Civil War include many more acts of vandalism and violence against non-Salafists and historical heritage. ISIL released images showing their demolition of the monastery. St. Elian Monastery housed a 5th-century tomb and served as a major pilgrimage site. Parts of the monastery, including the foundations, were 1,500 years old. The group had captured the area earlier in August. The group also imprisoned a number of Christian civilians. The monastery's superior Jacques Mourad was abducted by ISIL in May and escaped after 5 months of captivity. Threatened with execution, he escaped from the ISIL-held territory, leaving most of his congregation behind.

Palmyra offensive

The Palmyra offensive of May 2015 was a military operation launched during the Syrian Civil War by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on May 13-26, 2015, in an attempt to capture the government-held Tadmur District of the Homs Governorate, including the administrative centre of Tadmur, known in English as Palmyra. The ruins and ancient monuments of Palmyra, which lie on the south-western fringe of the modern city, have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1980. The ruins were part of a desert oasis that was one of the most significant cultural centers of the ancient world, linking the civilizations of Persia, India, China with the Roman empire through trade. The offensive was one of the largest offensives launched by ISIL, with the result of the offensive increasing ISIL's control of Syria to at least 50%.

Homs Camp

Homs camp is a Palestinian refugee camp within the city of Homs, Syria and around 160 kilometers north of Damascus. As of 2002, the camp had a population of 13,825 inhabitants. The camp was established in 1949 following the displacement of Palestinians during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on an area of 150,000 square meters. It is adjacent to al-Baath University and most of the refugees are originally from the villages surrounding Haifa and Acre in northern Palestine. Today, the majority of the refugees are wage laborers, local civil servants or street vendors. According to the UNRWA, poor environmental health is a major concern as it affects the quality of life and poses health risks for the refugees. The sewage system needs to be expanded to cope with the increasing camp population. The schools are old and dilapidated condition, and some have major structural defects. The UNRWA's main priority in the camp is to reconstruct the schools to provide improved educational facilities. In 1996, the UNRWA constructed a new health center with a contribution from the United States government. A new community rehabilitation center for the disabled was built in 1999 in partnership with MOVIMONDO Molisv with funds from the European Community Humanitarian Office .
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