Monuments - Homs

Homs: central Syria, on the Orontes River. It is a commercial center located in a fertile plain where wheat, grapes, fruit, and vegetables are grown. Manufactures include refined petroleum, flour, fertilizer, processed foods, handicrafts, and silk, cotton, and woolen textiles. The city is a road and rail junction and has an oil refinery. In ancient times Homs, then called Emesa, was the site of a great temple to Baal (or Helios-Baal), the sungod. Emesa came into startling prominence in the early 3d cent. AD when a priest of the temple became Roman emperor as Heliogabalus, or Elagabalus. Aurelian defeated the forces of Zenobia of Palmyra there in 272. The Arabs took the town in 636, renaming it Homs. The Arab soldier Khalid died there in 642; a shrine and mosque in his honor were erected in 1908. Homs was part of the Ottoman Empire from the 16th cent. until after World War I, when it became part of the French League of Nations mandate. The city has a university.

 Virgin's Belt Church:

The current building only dates back to the 19th century. It contains the belt which is said to have belonged to the Virgin Mary. It was discovered togather with a manuscript written in Syriac and bone fragments in 1953 an urn behind the main altar

Dedicated to a martyr from Emesa "Homs", son of a Roman officer who was put to death at the end of the 3rd century for refusing to abjure his Christian faith. In the crypt, which was used as a tomb for the martyrs, mural painting of the 12th century covering fragments of mosaic of the 6th century were discovvered in 1970 from under a thick coating. This attracted attention to the church itself whcih was restored and ornated with frescos (scenes from the life and of the martydrom of Sian Elian and his posthumous miracle)   

The Ottoman style mosque was built directly before the First World War and holds the tomb of the great Muslim leader Khaled Ibn Al Walid who  lived in Homs for the last seven years of his life.This building is distinguished by its metal dome which reflects sunshine.  It is also famous for its two  high minarets and narrow galleries built with black and white stones in a horizontal manner.The slender colonnade in black and white stone in horizontal rows is representative of traditional Syrian architecture 

 Museum of Homs:

Opened in 1975 on the ground floor of the Arab Cutlural Center, and contains Roman, Byzantine and Arab-Islamic remains unearthed during excavations in the area. 

 Citadel:

Little remains of this citadel, which was destroyed in the 1830s by Ibrahim Pasha. It is located in the southwestern part of the city, on a natural mound surrounded by a moat. The mound is now off-limits. This citadel played an important role in the history of Homs especially under the Nourite, Ayyubite, and Mameluke states

" Souk Al Maskuf " The souk of Homs are located in the ancient part of the city and occupy a large area. Most parts of the souk were constructed during the Ayyubite, Mameluke, and Ottoman periods. There are a few baths also dating back to these periods including the Small Hammam, Al Assayati Hammam and the Ottoman Hammam

The hill on which Crac des Chevaliers was constructed was originally the site of a small fortress called the "Castle on the slope". It was taken over in 1011 by the Emir of Homs, who garrisoned his Kurdish soldiers there to protect the Syrian interior from the potential threat of invasion from the direction of the Mediterranean coast. In June 1110 the small fortress was occupied by the Crusaders under Tancred, Prince of Antioch. They housed a garrison of four thousand soldiers and built fortifications throughout their occupation when demanded by circumstances. They also had to restore parts of the castle that were shattered by earthquakes in 1157, 1170, 1201 and 1202. The castle was attacked in 1163 by Nur ed-Din Sultan of Damascus, whose troops met the Franks in the Buqai'ah valley below the castle. Saladin (Salah ad-Din Yusuf) beseiged it in 1188, but renounced his plans to occupy it and continued on his march northward