Wealth of Palmyra by world wide trade 1: Architcture

Within an international cooperation project, archaeological research was done in Palmyra/Syria during the last 10 years. Within this project, the area of the hellenistic pre-roman settlement was localized south of the Wadi outside the later roman town by geophysical prospection. It was proofed by test trenches that building activities in this area can be dated from the 3rd century BC up to the 3rd century AD. This throws a completely new light on the historical development of the urbanism of Palmyra. In the very centre of this `hellenistic hill`, a large courtyard like building was excavated that can be interpreted as a caravn building (`Khan`) or residence of a caravan leader. The construction of the building about the middle of the 1st century BC and its destruction or abundance at the end of the 3rd century AD might be understood with the creation of the Roman province Syria (in 64 BC) on the one hand and with the capture of Palmyra by the Roman emperor Aurelian (in 272/3 AD) on the other hand. The results of the research are published within two volumes by several collaborators. Volume I: The architecture and its decoration Volume I contains the results of the geophysical prospection compared with recent satellite pictures (TerraSar-X). Then, the hellenistic and roman architectural structures and the history of the buildings dating from the 3rd century BC to the 3rd century AD are documented by drawings and fotografs and interpreted. It follows the publication and reconstruction of the luxurious wall decorations of the `Khan`: wall paintings of very high quality and stucco friezes partly even gilded and dating to the 2nd century AD. Thus, ensembles of room decorations can be reconstructed Finally the restoration, conservation and presentation of the wall paintings and stucco fragments in the Museum of Palmyra are documented together with chemical analyses of this material.