Anjar
Anjar
The city of Anjar was founded by Caliph Walid I at the beginning of the 8th century. The ruins reveal a very regular layout, reminiscent of the palace-cities of ancient times, and are a unique testimony to city planning under the Umayyads.
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
Anjar
Les ruines d'Anjar, ville fondée par le calife Walid Ier au début du VIIIe siècle, révèlent une organisation très rigoureuse de l'espace semblable à celle des villes-palais de l'Antiquité. Elles constituent un témoignage unique sur l'urbanisme des Omeyyades.
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
عنجر
تعكس آثار عنجر، هذه المدينة التي بناها الخليفة وليد الأول في أوائل القرن الثامن، تنظيمًا دقيقًا للمكان الذي يشبه المدن القصور القديمة. كما أنّها تُعتبَر الشاهد الوحيد على مدنية الأمويين.
source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
安杰尔
安杰尔是由卡利夫·瓦利德一世于8世纪初设计建立的城市。其废墟表明，其整体布局井井有条，使人联想起古代的宫殿，如今，安贾尔成为倭马亚城市规划设计的唯一见证。
source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
Древний город Анджар
Город Анджар был основан халифом Валидом I в начале VIII в. Его руины свидетельствуют о регулярной планировке и напоминают о городах-дворцах древних времен. Это уникальный образец градостроительства при правлении династии Омейядов.
source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
Anjar
Las ruinas de Anjar, ciudad fundada por el califa Walid I a principios del siglo VIII, muestran una ordenación rigurosa del espacio que se asemeja a la de las ciudades-palacio de la Antigüedad. Los vestigios de Anjar constituyen un testimonio único del urbanismo de los Omeyas.
source: UNESCO/ERI
Description is available under license CC-BY-SA IGO 3.0
アンジャル
source: NFUAJ
Anjar
De stad Anjar werd aan het begin van de 8e eeuw gesticht door kalief Al-Walid I. De ruïnes tonen een zeer regelmatig ontwerp, dat doet denken aan de paleissteden uit de oudheid. Het zijn unieke getuigen van stadsplanning onder de Omajjaden. Anjar is een voorbeeld van een binnenlands commercieel centrum, op het kruispunt van twee belangrijke routes: de ene loopt van Beiroet naar Damascus en de andere steekt de Bekaa over en loopt van Homs naar Tiberiade. De oude stad werd pas aan het eind van de jaren '40 van de 20ste eeuw ontdekt door archeologen. De opgravingen toonden een versterkte stad, omringd door muren en geflankeerd door veertig torens.
Source: unesco.nl
Anjar (Lebanon)
© UNESCO
Outstanding Universal Value
Brief synthesis
Founded during the Umayyad period under Caliph Walid Ibn Abd Al-Malak (705-715), the city of Anjar bears outstanding witness to the Umayyad civilization. Anjar is an example of an inland commercial centre, at the crossroads of two important routes: one leading from Beirut to Damascus and the other crossing the Bekaa and leading from Homs to Tiberiade. The site of this ancient city was only discovered by archaeologists at the end of the 1940s. Excavations revealed a fortified city surrounded by walls and flanked by forty towers, a rectangular area (385 x 350 m). Dominated by gates flanked by porticos, an important North-South axis and a lesser East-West axis, superposed above the main collectors for sewers, divide the city into four equal quadrants. Public and private buildings are laid out according to a strict plan: the great palace of the Caliph and the Mosque in the South-East quarter occupies the highest part of the site, while the small palaces (harems) and the baths are located in the North-East quarter to facilitate the functioning and evacuation of waste waters. Secondary functions and living quarters are distributed in the North-West and South-West quarters. The ruins are dominated by spectacular vestiges of a monumental tetrapyle, as well as by the walls and colonnades of the Umayyad palace, three levels of which have been preserved. These structures incorporate decorative or architectonical elements of the Roman era, but are also noteworthy for the exceptional plasticity of the contemporary decor within the construction.
Anjar was never completed, enjoying only a brief existence. In 744, Caliph Ibrahim, son of Walid, was defeated and afterwards the partially destroyed city was abandoned. Vestiges of the city of Anjar therefore constitute a unique example of 8th century town planning. Built at the beginning of the Islamic period, it reflects this transition from a protobyzantine culture to the development of Islamic art and this through the evolution of construction techniques and architectonical and decorative elements that may be viewed in the different monuments.
Criterion (iii): Founded during the Umayyad period under the Caliphate of Walid Ibn Abd Al-Malak at the beginning of the 8th century, the excavated vestiges of the city of Anjar, which was abandoned after a short period, provide an eminent testimony, precisely dated, of the Umayyad civilization.
Criterion (iv): Architectural complex possessing all the true characteristics of the Umayyad civilization, the city of Anjar constitutes an outstanding example of 8th century town planning of the Umayyad caliphate. The evolution of certain protobyzantine styles towards a more developed Islamic architecture is apparent in the building techniques as well as in the architectonical and ornamental elements employed.
Integrity (2009)
The surrounding walls of Anjar incorporate all the features of town planning and the monuments that characterise the Umayyad city. Some features exist on the outskirts of the complex, such as a caravanserai, and these must be protected by a buffer zone which would also protect the visual integrity of the Bekaa Valley and limit the development of modern constructions.
Authenticity (2009)
Despite major restoration and reconstruction works, the different monuments comprising the Umayyad city of Anjar clearly demonstrate their functions and relations, and the overall plan of the city can easily be identified. A wider diffusion of excavation results would facilitate a better comprehension of the features.
Protection and management requirements (2009)
The Directorate General of Antiquities is responsible for the property. Protection of the archaeological vestiges is ensured through regular maintenance (weeding and consolidation of the structures). A management plan is under preparation. The expropriation of parcels of land adjacent to the archaeological site is ongoing to counter urban development and provide a double band of protection for the site: the first being « non aedificandi", and the second an area where exploitation will be minimal in order to conserve the beauty of the surrounding landscape.
