The ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra rise up into the desert sky of Syria. The Hadrian Gate was built in the second century A.D. and highlights the glorious past of this once important trading metropolis in the Near East.

Flanked by columns, a majestic twelve hundred metre long avenue was once Palmyra’s main street. As with many of the city’s other buildings it also has an impressive theatre that dates back to the second century A.D. and was discovered in the 1950’s. For some years it has once again served as a place of entertainment as each spring it features a festival.

Close to the Agora, once a farmer’s market, is Palmyra’s striking main landmark, the Tetrapylon that forms the junction between the main avenue and a side road that leads to the city’s Necropolis.

The subterranean Hypogaum Of The Three Brothers contains almost four hundred burial corridors and numerous artistic sculptures and frescos.

From the seventh century A.D. the magnificent trading metropolis gradually fell into decline and was almost completely wiped from the map. Thankfully however, today the atmospheric ruins serve as a reminder of Palmyra’s glorious past.