| AL-MADIQ
CITADEL
It's an Arab citadel lying on the top of
the Acropolis of Apamea. It was known as the Apamea Fortress until
the sixteenth century. The Arabs conquered it in 638 A.D. As it had
a very important military position, the Byzantines conquered it in
975 A.D, but the Arabs regained it in 933 A.D. it's distinguished by
the remains of its walls and towers. Also, it has a khan built by
the Ottomans in the 16th century A.D and transformed into an
archaeological museum. |
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| AL-HASANEIN
MOSQUE
This mosque was known as Al-Husein
Mosque. The earthquake of 1157 A.D. takes a part of the mosque, so
Nur Ad-Din Az-Zanki tried to build what is destroyed of it, and that
is mentioned in a writing of six lines on its south front. The
Mosque has two domes; the east one is ribbed and based on a square
base of 4 meters height, and the west dome is smaller and 2 meters
height. |

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| AN-NOURI
MOSQUE
It has an archaeological pulpit, which is
a piece of wonder. It has also a square minaret and important
historical scripts. The admirable minaret banded with black basalt
and yellow limestone is original. It was built on the ruins of an
old temple. There are important archaeological writings on the north
wall. The first writing, in Greek, refers to the courage of the
people of Hama against the Roman governors. The second writing, in
Arabic, says that the Mosque was a center for scientific
meetings. |

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| APAMEA
MUSEUM
It was a caravan serai for Mohammad
Qizlar during the reign of Sultan Sulaiman. It has been restored and
transformed into a museum in 1982. It consists of a large courtyard
surrounded by huge halls, where various objects from Apamea and
other sites are exhibited. It contains the most wonderful pieces of
mosaic, such as; the mosaic of Socrates and the Seven Wise Men (4th
century A.D.) and other mosaics. All of these made it one of the
most important international museums in this regard. |

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| APAMEA
51,664 visitors in 1999 . The Arabic name
is (Afamia) .It was Saluqos Nikator’s center of his military
leadership. He named it Apamea after his wife's name. It’s a perfect
image of mixture of Greek and local Syrian civilizations, which was
creative in every corner and place. As an Eastern cross roads, it
received many distinguished persons, such as; Septimus, Severus and
the Emperor Caracalla.In the Christian era, Apamea became a center
of philosophy and thoughts, especially Monophostism. |
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| BEEHIVE HOUSES
People of some parts of Hama countryside
used to live in cone clay beehive houses. Now they use these Beehive
Houses for animals and crops. |
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| CROSS MONASTERY
The Arabic name is (Deir As-Saleeb). It
consists of a Basilica and some tombs. A dome built with lime stones
covers one of these tombs, which remain intact. There are three
stones coffins decorated with cross signs inside this tomb. East of
this Monastery is a town, which was hidden under the earth many
centuries ago. |
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| EPHKA SPRING
The Spring of Ephka, in ancient
inscriptions, was an Aramaic word meaning (way out). It's clear
slightly sulphurous water is said to have medicinal properties. It
has fed an oasis here, with olives, date palms, cotton and cereals.
For generations, this oasis was known as Palmyra or Tadmor.
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| ESSERYEH
Its old name is (Syrian). It's in ruins,
except its lime stone temple, which consists of three floors. In the
middle of its eastern wall, there is a high entrance decorated with
very beautiful ornaments. There are two towers on the two sides of
the entrance; one of them has a staircase, which leads to the roof
of the temple. |
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| HAMA CITADEL
It's the heart and the first origin of
the city. It's now a big heap of dust, on which the Ministry of
Tourism planted trees and set up a big handsome park, where the
tourists and the visitors can spend wonderful time enjoying the
numerous and the most beautiful sceneries of Hama city.
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| HAMA MUSEUM
It's a new building containing various
objects found in Hama County dating back to different ages. It also
contains samples of Hama traditional fashions, and a very important
mosaic work. |
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| IBN
WARDAN PALACE
1,835 visitors in 1999 . It's one of the
most important ruins in Hama County. These ruins consist of three
buildings; the Palace, the Military Camp and the Church. All of them
were built of brick, lime stones and basalt stones. Some of the
interior walls were decorated with mosaics or marble. |
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| KHANS
In Hama city, there is a number of baths
(Hammams) and caravan serais (Khans). The most famous is Rustum
Pasha Khan in Al-Marabet Street, which is now a market (Souq) for
handicrafts. |
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| MHARDEH
It's an ancient city. It dates back to
the same period of Apamea and Sheizar prosperity. The antiques found
in the caves, which were inhabited then, have revealed this.
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| MISYAF CITADEL
2,232 visitors in 1999 . It's one of the
most important citadels in Hama. It lies on a great rocky hill. This
Citadel has two walls; one of them is represented by a rocky edge
and the other wall is for its own. So, it was a great defensive
citadel and building of Ismaeliyah. |
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| MISYAF
It's surrounded by a low ancient wall and
charming forest. It has fine fair climate in summer. There are many
important archaeological citadels near by. The most famous one is
Misyaf Citadel, which dates back to B.C. eras. The Mongols occupied
Misyaf in 1260 A.D. Then Sultan Baybars conquered it in 1270
A.D. |
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| NORIAS
The Waterwheels, or Norias were used for
irrigation in Hama for a long time ago. They were first mentioned in
a mosaic found in Apamea dating back to the 5th century A.D. There
are 16 Norias still turning round on the Orontes River. The highest
Noria in Hama is Al-Mohammadiyah (diameter: 21m), west of Hama.
These Norias provide a fascinating spectacle and a fine tune.
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| PUBLIC BATHS
The Arabic name is (Hammam). There are
many baths in Hama city, such as: 1- The Sultan Bath : The
king Al-Mansour Mohammad . 2- Al-Ibeissi Bath : The king
Al-Mudaffar Omar . 3- Al-As'adiyah Bath : As'ad Pash Al-Azem
. 4- Ad'Darwishiyah Bath : the Ottoman Period . 5-
Al-Othmaniyah Bath : the Ottoman Period . |
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| SALAMIYEH
It was called Salamess. It's truly the
capital of the commercial amalgam between the Urbanites and the
Bedouins. Tal Al-Gazala, which lies east of it, was the ancient
Salamiyeh. Then the town spread west and northwest during the
Hellenistic, the Roman, the Byzantine and the Islamic periods. The
Arabs conquered Salamiyeh peacefully in 638 A.D. |
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| SHMEIMIS CITADEL
It's the Fortress of the Sun or Shmeimis
Citadel. It lies on a high cone mountain. Most of its buildings are
in ruins, except the city wall. It dominates the steppe type plain
at about 4 km from Salamiyeh. Assad Ad-Din Shirikuh has built the
present building in 1230 A.D. |
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| SQEILBIYEH
It's an ancient city. It prospered at the
times of Apamea prosperity, and knew all the ancient Syrian ages. In
the past, it lied on a hill, which located on the northern part of
the present Sqeilbiyeh. This hill still exists with old and new
houses. Sqeilbiyeh is full of natural and touristy places like;
AL-Halawah Mill, AL-Teep Spring, AL-Bared River and Innab.
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| THE GREAT MOSQUE
The Great Mosque was built in a place of
a Byzantine church, which most likely replaced a Pagan temple. It
contains a Greek writing of 12 lines. The Mosque has the tombs of
the two kings; Al-Mansour II and his son Al-Mudaffar III.
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| TRDITIONAL MUSEUM
If was called Al-Azem Palace. The
Department of Antiquities and Museums bought it in 1956 and restored
it to become the Archaeological and Folklore Museum of Hama. It has
two parts; the women's part (Haramlek) and the men's part
(Zalamlek). Both parts consist of two layers, where you see the
beauty of Arab architecture, in addition to the fountains and
magnolia tree in the middle of the courtyard. It contains objects
found in Hama region dating back from the 2nd millennium B.C. to the
14th century A.D. |
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