from the toppling of a dictatorship

This part of a torn-up concrete platform at Al-Azm Palace was sitting in a pile in a courtyard. The palace was built in 1749 for the Ottoman governor of Damascus, As’ad al-Azm, and later was used by the French. Since the start of civil war in Syria in 2011, many of the country’s beautiful and ancient sites have been destroyed.

Those still standing are at great risk of falling into disrepair or being destroyed. The threat to cultural heritage in the region comes not just from war, but from ahistorical interventions like pouring concrete. In the palace, that intervention has been reversed and was being cleared away.

Nicolas Niarchos in the Old City of Damascus