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Efforts to restore Syria’s Palmyra may take six to seven years, museum director says

According to Hasan Ali, the antique ruins’ rehabilitation will cost "a huge sum"

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

DUBAI, November 1. /TASS/. Restoration of Syria’s Palmyra from the damage caused by the Islamic State (or IS, a terrorist organization outlawed in Russia) and civil war may take up to seven years and will require a large investment, Hasan Ali, Palmyra Museum director, told The National.

According to him, the antique ruins’ rehabilitation will cost "a huge sum" and take "six to seven years." The issue concerns Syria's "sense of belonging, memory and national identity," he added.

Some 80% of houses were destroyed in Palmyra, and the site lacks basic infrastructure, including electricity and water, Ali noted. Therefore, there are hardly any locals near the fabled antique ruins, and hotels and restaurants remain shut, he shared.

Since the government of former Syrian president Bashar Assad was toppled in 2024, around 80,000 people have visited Palmyra, and officials expect to increase the number of foreign visitors to more than a million a year after the effort to rebuild the city. As more than 80% of funerary structures have been damaged on site, specialists are discussing how to restore the city and whether the site’s famous ruins should be rebuilt or not. Looting remains a problem, the news website added.

"Palmyra was once a famous trading city. Now, it must be a sign of refusal to accept destruction. More deeply, it must be a place for healing the nation, helping to rebuild both the physical ruins and the spirit of the local people," The National quoted Lina Kuteifan, deputy director of the Syria General Directorate of Antiquities and Museums, as saying.

In May 2015, IS terrorists seized Palmyra. The Syrian military, supported by Russian aircraft, liberated the city in March 2016, but extremists again took it under control in December. Syrian government troops finally managed to recapture Palmyra in March 2017, with support from the Russian military. Among other sites, IS militants destroyed a monumental arch that dated back to the 3rd century BC. Russian specialists were planning to restore it, but Hermitage Director Mikhail Piotrovsky announced a pause in the project in December 2024 amid a government change in the Arab republic.

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