Antiquities and historical monuments

Topic: Antiquities and historical monuments

A museum staff member looks up at tilework and a bright blue dome projection in a darkened room at the 'Epic Iran' exhibition

Iran's cultural wonders on display in London

Starting 29 May, the "Epic Iran" show at London's Victoria & Albert Museum delves into 5,000 years of art, design and culture of the country. More...More

"Ancient Culture between Water and Desert": The cradle of civilisation Treasures of the Ancient Middle East: Deciphering the first written language Qantara photo essay: Iran's monuments for humanity

An undated handout photo released 8 April 2021 by the Zahi Hawass Center For Egyptology shows an archaeological discovery as part of the "Lost Golden City" in Luxor, Egypt. The city is 3000 years old, dates to the reign of Amenhotep III, and continued to be used by Tutankhamun and Ay (photo: Zahi Hawass Center For Egyptology via AP)

Archaeologists discover "Lost Golden City of Luxor"

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of an ancient city in the desert outside Luxor in Egypt. They say it dates back to the golden age of the Pharaohs more than 3,000 years ago. More...More

Virtual 3D tour of the Roman temples at Baalbek, Lebanon Photo essay: The Bamiyan Buddhas – destroyed 20 years ago Photo essay: Iran's monuments for humanity

The Sufi Trail

Anatolia through the eyes of a pilgrim

The Sufi Trail is a long-distance hiking route from Istanbul to Konya that seeks to revive the ancient tracks used by foot pilgrims on their way to Mecca. Marian Brehmer spoke to the trail's founder and hiking route developer Sedat CakirMore

Interview with Islamic scholar and philosopher Abdolkarim Soroush: "The Sufis were prophets of pluralism"Album review: Trygve Seim′s "Rumi Songs"The filming of Rumi: Everybody's darling

Temple of Bacchus and the Temple of Jupiter (photo: I. Wagner/German Archaeological Institute, Orient department)

Baalbek Reborn: Temples

Virtual 3D tour of the Roman temples at Baalbek, Lebanon

The famous temples of Baalbek, the ancient Heliopolis in Lebanon, are one of the largest Roman religious sites in the world and a World Heritage Site. The app "Baalbek Reborn: Temples" uses the latest technology to reconstruct the ruinsMore

Placido Domingo in Baalbek: Opera arias in the Hezbollah stronghold Explosion in Lebanon: The soul of the city – Beirut's cultural decline Qantara photo essay: Holidaying in Hezbolland Lebanon after the explosion: Beirut's aftermath – shattering as 15 years of civil war

Destruction of the Buddha statues in Bamiyan | Projection of the original statue

The Bamiyan Buddhas – destroyed 20 years ago

The world's largest standing Buddha statues had survived for a millennium and a half in Afghanistan – until the Taliban destroyed them. More...More

The destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan: The iconoclasm of the Taliban Qantara photo essay: Where once the Buddhas kept watch

This was the first time that bombs from the Saudi-led coalition forces directly struck the old city of Sanaa, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO condemned the 12 June 2015 attack on Yemen (photo: epa)

Architecture in Sanaa

As Yemen's mudbrick legacy crumbles before our eyes

Report from a disintegrating world: the early Islamic buildings of Sanaa are suffering from the effects of climate change and war. This world heritage site could be lost forever. By Paul-Anton KrugerMore

Sanaa in the 19th century: A city of gardens, Greeks and Turks Conflict in the Gulf Covering: Yemen's forgotten war Treasures of the Ancient Middle East: Deciphering the first written language The reception of the other: Western painters of the Orient, Orientalists in the East

Festive coronavirus masks

Christmas opens new market for small Gaza sewing business

In the blockaded Gaza Strip, the Christmas season is giving a boost to a small women’s business that produces pandemic face masks decorated with holiday symbolsMore

Traditional Palestinian "tatreez": Sewing with a message Women in Egypt's Sinai bring Bedouin embroidery to coronavirus fight Palestinian embroidery motifs: Dresses that tell stories

President Erdoğan and senior Turkish ministers attend Friday prayers at Hagia Sofia, 24.07.20 (photo: picture-alliance/AA/M. Kamachi)

Interview with Olivier Roy on the conversion of Hagia Sophia

"Islamising stones is easier than Islamising souls"

The photos of the first Friday prayers in Hagia Sofia in 86 years triggered passionate and diverse responses around the world. Surrounded by a coterie of ministers, Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, led worshippers in prayer at the recently rededicated mosque. Eren Güvercin spoke to the renowned French political scientist Olivier Roy and asked him about the significance of the controversial reconversionMore

Erdogan to pray in Hagia Sophia after mosque reconversion Interview with Olivier Roy: They love death as we love life – jihad and the roots of terror Interview with Olivier Roy: "Radicalisation is not the result of failed integration"

Wheelchairs arrive in Mosul (photo: RIRP)

Reconstruction and humanitarian aid in northern Iraq

100 wheelchairs for Mosul

Two and a half years since its liberation from the Islamic State group, large areas of Mosul still lie in rubble. Germany is contributing in a variety of ways to the reconstruction of the city in northern Iraq. Brigit Svensson reports from IraqMore

Iraq post-IS: Mosulʹs cultural comeback Interview with Nihad Salim Qoja: “Iranian hegemony in Iraq is very strong”Islamic State′s destruction of Mosul: Razed to the ground

Nihad Salim Qoja, former mayor of Erbil (photo: Shamal Sharef/DW)

Interview with Nihad Salim Qoja

“Iranian hegemony in Iraq is very strong”

For 12 years, Nihad Salim Qoja was the mayor of Erbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdish regions of Iraq. Christopher Resch spoke to the local politician in Erbil about the future of his city and the current political problems in IraqMore

Overcoming cultural divisions: "Iraq is full of inspiring stories" Iraq post-IS: Mosulʹs cultural comeback The uncertain future of Kurdish autonomy: What next for Iraqʹs Kurds?

Excavation site in Mertola (photo: Marta Vidal)

Uncovering Portugalʹs Islamic roots

Where Christians pray facing Mecca

Archaeologists in Mertola have spent the last 40 years looking for traces of Portugalʹs Islamic past. What they found shows that Islam is not alien to Europe and has in fact deeply influenced Portuguese history and culture. By Marta VidalMore

La Mezquita in Cordoba: Is Cordoba denying its Islamic heritage?Spain and Ibn Arabi′s heritage: The great master of Murcia The Maghrebʹs Moorish-Spanish legacy: Andalusia begins in northern Morocco

The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus (photo: Issam Hajjar)

The "Syrian Heritage Archive Project"

Syria's cultural landscape lives on – in Berlin

Countless cultural assets were destroyed by the Syrian Civil War. The Syrian Heritage Archive Project in Berlin contributes to preserving their memory with an exhibition showing what has been lost – and what remains. By Christina KufnerMore

"Syrien – ein Land ohne Krieg": Syria, as it once was Aleppo soap: Balsam from a war zone Reconstruction of Aleppo: ″Others destroy and we rebuild″

Yemenʹs old town, consisting of thousands of high-rise loam houses up to eight storeys high, was surrounded by a city wall with eight gates, of which only one survives: the Bab al-Yaman (Yemen Gate), built in 1875 and brought into its present form by the Turks in 1905 (photo: picture-alliance/dpa)

Sanaa in the 19th century

A city of gardens, Greeks and Turks

Often steeped in prejudice and fed by ignorance, travelogues penned by Europeans travelling to the Middle East between the fifteenth and twentieth centuries nevertheless remain fascinating for the cultural insights they provide. Renzo Manzoniʹs "Yemen: A trip to Sanaa" is a case in point. By Mohamed ShaabanMore

Evelyn Waugh′s ″Labels: A Mediterranean Journal″: Egypt revisited Max Baron of Oppenheim: An encyclopaedic travelogue free from the arrogance of the time Book review: Mathias Enard′s ″Boussole″: In love with the Orient

German anthropologist Dieter Haller (photo: Karima Ahdad)

Interview with German anthropologist Dieter Haller

"Freedom of speech has long been empty rhetoric"

Two years on from the publication of his book "Tangier: port, people and pleasure – an ethnographic study", anthropologist Dieter Haller met with Karima Ahdad to discuss the clash between indigenous inhabitants and newcomers, Tangierʹs international outlook against the backdrop of the city today and the desire of young Moroccans to emigrateMore

Morocco and the return of autocracy: Playing with fire Moroccoʹs sentencing of Nasser Zefzafi: When civil liberties contract Morocco youth transform traditional festival to gain voice

View of the historic old town of Chefchaouen, Morocco (photo: picture-alliance)

The Maghrebʹs Moorish-Spanish legacy

Andalusia begins in northern Morocco

Any journey to southern Spain, to Al-Andalus, is akin to the start of a dream that finds its beguiling continuation beyond the Pillars of Hercules, in the Andalusian cities of northern Morocco – Tangiers, Chefchaouen, Tetouan, Fes, Meknes, Larache and Asilah. The relationship between Morocco and Spain is closer than we think. By Mourad KusserowMore

Spain: Islam returns to Andalusia Spain and Ibn Arabi′s heritage: The great master of Murcia La Mezquita in Cordoba: Is Cordoba denying its Islamic heritage?

Tunis Old Town, a picture postcard idyll (photo: Sarah Mersch)

Urban development in Tunisia

Keeping the speculators out of Tunis

While there is a gradual reawakening of interest among the inhabitants of the Tunisian capital in their historical old town, the cityʹs colonial districts are at risk of falling prey to property speculators. Sarah Mersch on the development of TunisMore

Urban appropriation in Jerusalem: Mamilla and the Tower of David Gentrification in Egypt: Urban counter-revolution in Cairo Anti-construction protests in Turkey: ″Reclaim Istanbul!″ – policy vs. architecture

Topic: Antiquities and historical monuments

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