The Temple of Bel, Palmyra

The largest temple in Palmyra stood at the south-east end of the city, in the middle of a square courtyard more than 200 metres to a side. It was dedicated in AD 32. In August 2015 the main building was blown up. What stands today is the courtyard wall, the fortified gateway and the rows of columns along the courtyard edges.

What you see today

The largest intact piece is the gateway on the west side of the courtyard. It was turned into a castle gate in the medieval period and reinforced with thick walls, which is why it survived the blast; you can still walk through it into the courtyard. Rows of columns are standing along the north and west edges. The temple building at the centre — 15 metres high, ringed with Corinthian columns and holding a north and a south inner sanctuary — lies where it fell, as a heap of blocks.

Where the repair work stands

In 2016 the Directorate-General of Antiquities and Museums announced a plan to put the fallen blocks back by anastylosis. In 2017 a French team scanned and measured the rubble in three dimensions. Full reconstruction has not begun; the work on site is sorting and documentation. Which parts are open changes, so ask at the entrance.

Getting there

Carry on from the south-east end of the colonnaded street and turn south at the triumphal arch. It is a 500 metre walk on flat ground, with no shade.

What most people miss

The scale of the courtyard. Until 1929 the village of Palmyra sat inside these walls, its houses leaning against the temple, and the residents moved that year to the new town to the north. A courtyard that held a village explains its own size.