Damascus Offers Ancient Civilization Mixed With Modern Culture

DAMASCUS, Syria, June 1, 2006 — -- A Britney Spears poster hangs adoringly in a shop window, her lusty expression just feet from an equally iconic photo of the extremist Islamic cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

Damascus has long been considered a crossroads in the world, bringing together countless civilizations and cultures. Apparently, that's as true today as it was thousands of years ago.

It has been thousands of years, too. Syria's capital is thought to be the oldest continuously inhabited city in the world. At least 6,000 years before Christ, people called Damascus home.

Now Syria's government is trying to get travelers from across the world to start considering the country a home away from home. As the tourism board warmly proclaims: "Every man has two homelands. His own and Syria."

This spring, the government announced a plan to pump millions of dollars into tourism in an effort to double annual travel to the country by 2010. It hopes the initiative will create 150,000 jobs and make tourism a $5 billion industry.

"[We] aim to make Syria a tourist destination of regional and international stature," said Prime Minister Muhammad Naji al-Otari, through the official SANA news agency.

In March, the prime minister joined President Bashar al-Assad at the opening of the Damascus Four Seasons. The $100 million luxury hotel has almost 300 rooms, three restaurants, and a spa. After all, the influx of tourists will need a place to stay.

When your claim to fame is that you're one of the most ancient cities in civilization, it's no surprise that the most captivating attractions are in the old part of town.

The Umayyad Mosque is arguably the most popular tourist draw in Old Damascus. Three thousand years ago, the site housed a temple to the Syrian god of storms. It has been a lightning rod for visitors ever since.

Around 700 A.D., the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I set out to build a mosque "whose like was never built before, nor will ever be built after." That proclamation turned out to be much more of a prophecy.

The Umayyad Mosque immediately became the most impressive of its time. The mosque's architectural design was flattered through imitation all over the Islamic world. In fact, Umayyad essentially became a prototype for the masjid. It remains one of the world's largest.