Syria's Bosra, an amazing historic city, Alexanddru Diaconescu interview
Syria-Romania, Culture, 1/29/2000

" Bosra is amazing, and I think in ten years from now will be the second Pompeii, the most preserved Roman town in Italy," said Romanian Archaeologist Dr. Alexandru Diaconescu.

Dr. Diaconescu said his visit to Damascus comes at the initiative of the Romanian embassy in Damascus, noting that it is the first archaeological mission outside Romania ever abroad.

He added that there is a summer school in "Apullum" town, organized by the universities of Berlin, London and Cluj, where he comes from. "We are planning to invite young Syrians to be trained in archaeology," he said, adding, "In this school we teach the most recent sophisticated technology of archaeology to an international summer school which is a guarantee of the quality of teaching of archaeology."

He went on, "I came to Damascus in an exploratory visit, together with ten young colleagues who will represent the core of the Romanian team, but there will be a large one. They were all trained in different archaeological skills and are doing doctorates in Koln university (Germany, Paris, Vienna, Berlin beside the mother university of Cluj in Romania)." On meetings he held in Damascus with specialists concerned Dr. Diaconescu said he met with the director of the Syrian director of the antiquities and museum department, Dr. Sultan Muheisen, and with persons involved from the French Institute of Archaeology in the Middle East (IFAPO).

He said the main idea of coming to Syria is to see Bosra, noting that the Syrians are already cooperating with the French and the Italians and the Romanians are the third party of cooperators at Bosra.

He explained, "We came to Bosra to evaluate the other sites more than we knew in books and also to see directly the reality and evaluate what are the chances of making a mission here in Syria."

He continued that what was encouraging in Bosra was that his group could make direct contacts with people. Everybody is nice and very cooperative, an atmosphere which was very encouraging for us."

He added, " Bosra is amazing and I think in ten years from now it will be the second Pompeii, the most preserved Roman town in Italy, because of the fact that every Syrian archaeologist has started there. In addition, the Syrian government cleaned the sites from inhabitants, which was a wisely taken decision because the site is well-preserved."

He said that what is also important about Bosra is its continuity between the Hellenistic culture, the Nabathian town then the Roman town, a development of a Nabatian state without conflict and then Roman and Byzantine building. These all continue by Medieval findings. "Here we must also find the way to show the tourist this continuity."

He commented that Bosra is invaluable because you can show the tourist the continuity of past from antiquities of the Romans, Byzantines until the Islamic period. He explained that in Bosra "We have 14th Islam Hammam (bath) and beside we can see a Roman (bath), and besides one can see both baths have the same compartments and the same functionality."

He added, "By then in the 14th century there were no baths in Europe. And indeed, we do not have this kind of continuity."

Bosra, he said, is very well-preserved and of monuments of great dimensions, a monumental town like Palmyra and not a small one.

On agreements intended to be reached with the Syrian side, Dr. Diaconescu said, "We and the Syrians have mutual interests, and the way I see things and Dr. Muheisen see them are very close, although we did not communicate before." He said that "we" have agreed to provide young specialists from Romania for at least of 6-8 specialists, while the Syrians are providing another 30- 40 workers and mechanical means for cleaning. He expressed hope this will be a very efficient way of excavating, noting that cooperation will be also maintained with French and Italian teams in learning the things.

He said the Syrian party is going to coordinate the whole Bosra project which is a great one. Then the French come. They have a long scientific experience here in Syria and an institute which is coordinating the scientific activity. he said the French can provide logistic information, books and plans, adding that the Romanians' intent is to cooperate in this joint work because nobody can work alone.

On how the Romanian side will materialize this fruitful visit with its Syrian counterpart, Dr. Diaconescu said, "Till March we must sign the agreement of cooperation which will also enable me to raise funds from the Romanian side to serve in this project." He continued that in August and September this year the Romanians hope to start the first large-scale excavation and then starting next year (the new Millennium) "we" will develop a larger plan involving another four-month excavation plan every year with the Syrian side.

On his impressions about his visit to Syria, Dr. Diaconescu said he had visited al-Azem palace, the national museum, al-Hamadeyah souk, the Ummyad mosque, Maloula, Sednaya, in Damascus, Palmyra and Apamea, noting that he was "impressed by the Syrians, their traditions, unique past and even the pluralism even in the way people dressed and the great deal of tolerance among them."

Dr. Diaconescu who was born in Cluj, Romania on November 16, 1955 was graduated in 1979 from the faculty of history-philosophy in the Babes- Bolyai university in Cluj, specializing in ancient history.

He has participated in international congresses in Athens, Turkey, Vienna and in specialization courses in the UK, Italy, Germany and Greece.

He led archaeological excavations in Romania, at several sites, including some where he has cooperated with French and German teams and some as school sites for foreign students (British and German). He also published several written courses on those he teaches in the University of Cluj (ancient universal history and history of ancient arts).

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