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| temple of bel before ISIS |
One of the most culturally significant
pieces of architecture in the world has been destroyed, the United Nations said
on Monday.
The U.N. training and research agency
released satellite images and analysis that confirmed the Temple of Bel --
which for nearly 2,000 years has been the center of religious life in Palmyra,
Syria -- was no longer standing, despite conflicting reports earlier in the day
that it was not fully demolished.
UNOSAT Manager Einar Bjorgo said he could
"confirm destruction of the main building of the Temple of Bel as well as
a row of columns in its immediate vicinity."
Syria's antiquities chief, Maamoun Abdulkarim,
said earlier on Monday that the temple's iconic columns were still standing,
despite an explosion there on Sunday,
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| temple of bel after ISIS |
He said there was an explosion Sunday
inside the walls of the Temple of Bel, and while the extent of the damage was
not yet known at the time, witnesses reported the walls were still standing. He
called the site "the most important temple in syria
and one of the most important in the whole Middle East."
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights reports had reported previously that the temple had been at least in
part damaged by ISIS.
ISIS has become known not only for its
brutal executions but also for its hatred of antiquities and its wanton
destruction of them.
Recently, it executed Khaled al-As'ad, an
82-year-old man who had spent his life on the painstaking task of preserving
antiquities in Palmyra, because he refused to reveal where various
irreplaceable relics had been hidden.
-CNN
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