Ruins of Tire

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Coordinates: 33 ° 16 '  N , 35 ° 12'  E

Ruins of Tire
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem
Via Romana (4145038796) .jpg
Al bass
National territory: LebanonLebanon Lebanon
Type: Culture
Criteria : (iii), (vi)
Surface: 153.8 ha
Reference No .: 299
UNESCO region : Arabic states
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 1984  (session 8)

The ruins of Tire are a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Lebanon . On the one hand there are ancient ruins that were uncovered by excavations before the beginning of the Lebanese civil war , on the other hand areas of the modern city of Tire , in which ground monuments from the Bronze and Iron Ages are suspected.

description

hippodrome
Palaestra
Historical map (1906). The course of the aqueduct, Tell Mashuk and Tell Rachidiye is clearly recognizable

Definition of World Heritage 1984

The initiative to apply for World Heritage status came from Emir Maurice Chehab, director of the Lebanese State Antiquities Authority. He had carried out excavations in Tire from 1957 until the outbreak of the civil war in 1974. It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1984 during the civil war at the request of the Lebanese government. She described two zones to be protected:

  1. The promontory on the archipelago . There was the ancient city, which was raised to a colony by Septimius Severus . There were still impressive ruins of the palaestra , the thermal baths and the arenas, as well as remains of the cathedral and castle walls built by the Venetians in 1127 from the crusader era.
  2. On the mainland, the necropolis of Al-Bass, on both sides of an ancient boulevard with a triumphal arch from the 2nd century AD, the ancient main entrance from the mainland side. This archaeological site also housed the aqueduct and the hippodrome , one of the largest in the ancient world. Directly east and north of the hippodrome was a large Palestinian refugee camp in 1984.

The UNESCO Committee considered the definition of the area to be protected in 1984 to be too imprecise and asked for a more precise definition, which, however, did not take place.

War damage and reconstruction

ICOMOS advocated registration as a world cultural heritage based on criteria III and VI, as well as being included in the red list of endangered world heritage . The archaeological sites are not only affected by the civil war , but are also threatened by urbanization and land speculation. State-owned land should not be built on in a buffer zone and a maximum height of three floors should apply to new buildings in the vicinity of the World Heritage Sites. These measures were intended to ensure that the modern city of Sour (Tire) "holds more than a memory of ancient Tire". The UNESCO committee did not follow the recommendation to put Tire on the red list. The civil war ignored these plans. The Lebanese government had virtually no control over parts of the area.

After the end of the civil war, an international initiative attempted between 1996 and 1999 to secure the World Heritage Site of Tire, but the plan of necessary measures from 1998 was not implemented. The expansion of the modern infrastructure represented a potential threat to the world heritage:

  • Planning of a motorway route that would connect modern Tire with the capital Beirut ;
  • Plans to develop the north of the peninsula (fishing port) into a commercial port;
  • Partly uncontrolled urban growth.

The excavation areas with mostly Roman ruins were still marked by the damage of the civil war in 2012. Mosaics and wall sections have been exposed to the weather since they were exposed. There was a lack of funds to maintain the areas, for example to cut back bushes and remove illegally dumped garbage. The area around the so-called "Crusader Basilica" was particularly problematic. Secluded and hardly lit at night, there was also a security problem here.

Redefinition of the World Heritage area in 2010

The area, which is designated as a world cultural heritage site, was only precisely defined in 2010. 148.2 hectares of the archaeological zones were supplemented by 5.6 hectares of garden land. The archaeological zones are located in three different places in the urban area of ​​modern Tire :

  • The largest part consists of excavation sites, a residential area and the streets with which they are connected, from west to east: the southern half of the former island, now a peninsula, connected to the mainland (area of ​​the hippodrome ) by a Hellenistic dam (Hyram Strait) and the necropolis in the El-Buss district ) and further along the road to the southeast, a residential area in the Maachouq district (area of ​​Tell Mashuk).
  • A small vacant area (Tell Chawakir) southwest of Lebanese University .
  • The Palestinian refugee camp Ar-Raschidiya (Tell Rachidiye) on the coast south of Tire .

In the area of ​​Tell Mashuk, Tell Chawakir and Tell Rachidiye, port facilities from the Bronze and Iron Ages are suspected. In order to protect Tell Mashuk, the planned motorway route would have to be built either as a bridge or a tunnel at this point.

The state side did not, however, approve the 153.8 hectare World Heritage site defined in this way. The main argument here is that the government does not exercise any state authority in the Palestinian refugee camps. According to the Lebanese government, the world heritage should be limited to the areas excavated before the civil war with predominantly Roman artefacts.

World Heritage Criteria

Criterion III

Tire was one of the most important Phoenician cities and an important trading power. The archaeological sites are therefore outstanding evidence of a culture that no longer exists.

Criterion VI

Tire is directly linked to significant events in world history and the development of new ideas and techniques. For example, the Phoenicians are credited with inventing the alphabet . During the nomination, the ancient Roman buildings were highlighted as outstanding works of art: the hippodrome, triumphal arch and a Roman-Byzantine necropolis, which is located on the site of a Phoenician burial ground and thus illustrates the continuity and change in burial practice over a long period of time.

Changes to the island and coast

Tire Peninsula, aerial view 1934

In the 2000s, experts succeeded in better understanding the changes in the shape of the island and the coastline in the area of ​​Tire over the course of the millennia, and this led in 2011 to a reassessment of the areas particularly worthy of protection.

  • 8000 years ago the coast was preceded by a relatively narrow island extending in a north-south direction.
  • 6000 years ago this island had become considerably smaller. Areas in the north and south were below sea level, the main island was flanked by small islands in the north and south.
  • Around 332 BC A natural sandbank was created connecting the center of the island with the mainland. The island had become a peninsula.
  • While the peninsula continued to erode in the north and south, it widened at the sandbank, also as a result of ancient construction work.

Roman seaside resort

“In the light of the latest investigations, a new picture of the most important visible ruins of the former island appears. They are the remains of a luxurious Roman bathing culture of monumental, even imperial, size. The archaeological strata from Phoenician times that are below have hardly been explored until today. "

Underwater archeology

Since the coastline in the Tire area has changed significantly since ancient times, there are archaeologically interesting areas about three meters below sea level. This applies, among other things, to the area in front of the south-western tip of the peninsula (sunken southern harbor basin), which has been designated as a World Heritage Site.

Integrity and authenticity

The integrity of the world heritage site is limited. The remains of the aqueduct are outside the defined protection zone, as are parts of the ancient necropolis that have not yet been archaeologically examined. A complete archaeological survey of ancient Tire has not yet been carried out. As a result of the civil war, residential development, including high-rise buildings, moved close to the world heritage site.

The protected excavations, especially those from Roman times, are at risk from a lack of maintenance (due to the war) and the developing modern infrastructure in their neighborhood.

Protection and management of the world heritage site

The ruins are protected by the Antiquities Act No. 166/1933 and the Act for the Protection of Cultural Property No. 37/2008. Preservation and management is the responsibility of the General Directorate of Antiquities. A repair concept was in preparation in 2009. The World Bank- funded Cultural Heritage and Urban Development Project (CHUD) provides funding for this.

literature

  • Nick Marriner, Christopher Morhange: Preserving Lebanon's coastal archeology: Beirut, Sidon and Tire. In: Ocean & Coastal Management 51 (2008), pp. 430–441. ( PDF )

Web links

Commons : Ruins of Tire  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
  • Tire Ruins on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Report on the Reactive Monitoring Mission to Tire. In: UNESCO. 2012, p. 1 , accessed November 8, 2018 .
  2. ^ Advisory Board Evaluation (ICOMOS): Tire, South Lebanon. In: UNESCO. 1984, p. 2 , accessed November 8, 2018 .
  3. ^ Advisory Board Evaluation (ICOMOS): Tire, South Lebanon. 1984, p. 4 , accessed November 8, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Advisory Board Evaluation: Tire, South Lebanon Cwerk =. 1984, pp. 2–3 , accessed November 8, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b Report on the Reactive Monitoring Mission to Tire. In: UNESCO. 2012, p. 4 , accessed November 8, 2018 .
  6. ^ Report on the Reactive Monitoring Mission to Tire. 2012, p. 31 , accessed November 8, 2018 .
  7. ^ Tire - Inscribed property. Clarification adopted. In: UNESCO. 2010, accessed November 8, 2018 .
  8. ^ A b Nick Marriner, Christopher Morhange: Preserving Lebanon's coastal archeology: Beirut, Sidon and Tire . S. 433 .
  9. ↑ Nick Marriner, Christopher Morhange: Preserving Lebanon's coastal archeology: Beirut, Sidon and Tire . S. 436 .
  10. ^ Report on the Reactive Monitoring Mission to Tire. 2012, p. 23 , accessed November 8, 2018 .
  11. ↑ a b Report on the Reactive Monitoring Mission to Tire. In: UNESCO. 2012, p. 15 , accessed November 8, 2018 .
  12. ↑ a b Report on the Reactive Monitoring Mission to Tire. In: UNESCO. 2012, p. 2 , accessed November 8, 2018 .
  13. ^ A b c d Nick Marriner, Christopher Morhange: Preserving Lebanon's coastal archeology: Beirut, Sidon and Tire . S. 437 .
  14. ↑ a b c Tire - Outstanding Universal Value. In: UNESCO. Retrieved November 8, 2018 .