National Museum of Damascus

The museum was established in 1919, during King Faisal's short-lived Arab Kingdom of Syria, and was first housed in the al-Adiliyya Madrasa. According to the Arabic Wikipedia, donations from Damascene families formed the core of the collection in 1920. The present building next to the Sulaymaniyya Takiyya dates from 1936; the Arabic Wikipedia says its first section opened that year to a design by the French architect Écochard. The German Wikipedia gives 1939 for the transfer of the collections, the English Wikipedia 1950 for the official opening.

According to the English and Arabic Wikipedia, extensions followed in 1953 (a three-storey wing for Islamic-period exhibits and contemporary art), 1963 (a lecture hall furnished as an Ottoman-era Damascene reception hall, and a library), 1974 (Palaeolithic finds) and 2004 (Neolithic antiquities); the German Wikipedia mentions extensions in 1956 and 1975.

The museum closed in 2012 because of the Syrian civil war; more than 300,000 artefacts were hidden in secret locations. Four of its five wings reopened on 29 October 2018. After the fall of Damascus it closed again on 7 December 2024 and, at the request of the antiquities directorate, was secured by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham fighters; it reopened on 8 January 2025.[1][2][3]

The long, L-shaped building stands in a garden west of the old city, between Damascus University and the Takiyya on Shukri al-Quwatli Street. Its main entrance is formed by the façade of the Umayyad desert palace of Qasr al-Hayr al-Gharbi, which was removed from the Syrian Desert and rebuilt here; the English and Arabic Wikipedia date the palace to 727. Inside, an 18th-century Damascene reception room and the Hypogeum of Yarhai from Palmyra have been reconstructed; the museum garden serves as an open-air display.[1][2][3]

The holdings are organised in five wings: prehistory, ancient Syria, the classical age (Seleucid, Roman, Byzantine), the Islamic age and contemporary art. The museum holds more than 5,000 cuneiform tablets, among them a tablet with the Ugaritic alphabet, regarded as the earliest known alphabet, as well as sculptures from Tell Halaf.

The wall paintings of the Dura-Europos synagogue were moved to Damascus in the 1930s; the assembly hall is displayed in the museum in its original arrangement. According to the German Wikipedia, viewing time is limited for conservation reasons. In 2025 a delegation of scholars from outside Syria was able to see the paintings for the first time in decades.[1][2][4]

On 9 November 2025 (Arabic Wikipedia: the night to 10 November) six Roman-era marble statues were stolen after a break-in at the classical department. According to the Arabic Wikipedia the statues were later recovered and the thieves arrested. In July 2026 France returned 23 Syrian objects, which the museum displayed in summer 2026. No information on the condition of the building is available.[1][3]