Syria is ravaged by an internal conflict with thousands dead, millions as refugees, over a million children under the age of 11 as refugees and destroyed and looted cultural heritage sites. This is a tragedy in epic proportions. How does a generation of over a million children overcome this loss of family, home and heritage.

In an effort to protect Syrian heritage, UNESCO has created a Save Syria’s History portal for legal and cultural information and to follow the latest developments in the crisis.

Worldwide UNESCO has 44 historical sites in danger. In Syria alone, UNESCO has identified six ancient cities in danger including these ancient cities of Aleppo, Bosra, Damascus, the ancient villages of Northern Syria, Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El-Din and the site of Palmyra with 12 more sites nominated for protection.

Cultural heritage sites are monuments of a society’s achievements. Imagine the depth of history in Syria. The city of Bosra is where a Christian monk declared that Mohammed was a prophet. Or, Aleppo is where numerous ancient cultures mixed and traded along the legendary trade routes. Or being in the Syrian desert and seeing in the distance a mirage of the ancient city of Palmyra appear demonstrating the merging of Greek, Roman and Persian architecture. And that the legendary Crusades are not a myth, the crusaders left strong fortified castles in Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El Din. Syrian cultural heritage represents layer upon layer of world civilizations and knowledge.

These ancient cities and sites reveal the history of the area from as early as the 2nd millennium B.C. to the time of the Ottoman Empire; the transition of the Roman Empire paganism to the Christian Byzantium Empire; and the interaction between major faiths of the world including Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

Aleppo, the largest city in modern day Syria, was the meeting point of historical trade routes of ancient civilizations and architectural monuments left by successive cultures including the Hittite, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ayyubid represents a diverse cultural, religious and economic history.

Bosra is known for being the capital of the Roman province of Arabia and was an important city along the caravan route to Mecca. Linking the royals of Pharaohs, the Phoenician and Amorite kingdoms, Bosra appears in ancient texts, including the Tell el-Amarna tablets in Egypt. It is in Bosra, the prophet Mohammad visited twice and according to historical texts, Christian Monk Bahira recognized Mohammad would be a prophet.

Damascus, the capital of Syria today was founded in the 3rd millennium B.C. and is one of the oldest cities in the Middle East. Damascus represents the vast history, layers of cultures and traditions that have evolved through time.

Crac des Chevaliers and Qal’at Salah El Din bring alive the legends of the Crusades with the best fortified castles.

Then standing tall in the desert of Palmyra are the architectural remains of temples and arches representing the architectural finesse of the Greeks, Romand and Persians.

As this crisis in Syria continues, protecting and preventing the plunder of Syrian cultural heritage should be of utmost importance.