Issues of restoration of the Monumental Arch of Palmyra discussed at the Presidential Library

On November 11, 2022 the Presidential Library hosted the International Conference "Problems of post-traumatic restoration of the Monumental Arch of Palmyra".

Director of the Center for Rescue Archeology of the Institute for the History of Material Culture of RAS Natalya Solovyova, Director General of the Presidential Library Yuri Nosov, Director of the State Hermitage Museum Mikhail Piotrovsky, Head of the Department of Syrian Antiquities Mohammed Nazir Awad addressed the event participants with welcoming words.

The Monumental Arch was erected in the III century in Syria. Its ruins became one of the main attractions of Palmyra until they were finally destroyed in October 2015. Much of its masonry has been preserved.

The main goal of the conference was to discuss the most effective methods of restoration and selection of the concept for the restoration of the Monumental Arch of Palmyra.

The joint Russian-Syrian creative team under the leadership of the Center for Rescue Archeology of the Institute of the History of Material Culture of the Russian Academy of Sciences continues to work within the framework of one of the largest and most significant international projects of our time - the project "Restoration of the Monumental Arch of Palmyra".

The results of the first stage - a set of works on post-traumatic response - were discussed on July 12, 2022 at the Russian-Syrian meeting with the participation of UNESCO experts - members of the International Scientific Committee on Palmyra.

According to the agreement reached during the meeting and taking into account the world significance of the monument, all the approaches and methods of restoration of the Monumental Arch proposed by the creative team are first of all submitted for discussion and approval to the International Scientific Committee for Palmyra.

The Presidential Library’s conference also presented the results of excavations on the territory of the Monumental Arch of Palmyra, which were first carried out in autumn of 2022.

The Presidential Library's collections provide reference and archive materials, modern official documents dedicated to the Syrian Arab Republic. They spotlight the history of state, economic and cultural relations between Russia and Syria from the 19th century to the present day. On the library’s portal, these documents are combined into the collection Russia - Syria: the History of Relations and are available from around the world.