Al-Qaryatayn

The name means “the two villages”. Al-Qaryatayn sits on an oasis in the Syrian Desert, with Homs to the west and Palmyra to the north-east, and for centuries it was the staging post between them. The 2004 census counted 14208 people; they are Sunni Muslims and Syriac Christians.

Getting there

South-east of Homs on the desert road. Furqlus lies to the north, Mahin, Huwwarin and Sadad to the west, Qarah, Deir Atiyah and al-Nabk to the south-west, and the road to Palmyra runs through here. There is no regular public transport to the town, so people hire a car.

What to see

The town holds a number of Greco-Roman buildings. The largest is an extensive health complex known as Hamaam Balkis; under Roman rule this was a spa settlement and also a base for a cavalry unit. Corinthian columns and marble ornaments survive from the same era. Palmyrene inscriptions dedicated to the “Great God of Nazala” were found here too.

Its history

In the summer of 634 the inhabitants invited the army of Khalid ibn al-Walid in. The Umayyad caliph al-Walid used the town as a base of operations. The geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi passed through in the early 13th century and wrote of “a large village belonging to Hims, on the desert road, two marches from Tadmur”. In the 19th century the economy rested on camel transport; once the steamship and the train arrived, pilgrim caravans thinned and the income fell away. In 1908 the Czech explorer Alois Musil recorded six quarters, four Muslim and two Christian.

Where things stand

Al-Qaryatayn fell to ISIL in August 2015; Christian civilians were held and the Monastery of Saint Elian outside the town was demolished. The area was retaken in April 2016. The town has recovered part of its population, and damaged buildings stand alongside repaired streets.