Archaeologists have painstakingly restored many of the relics smashed up by the jihadists

The Syrian army recaptured the city in March 2016 with the help of Russian forces, but lost it again a few months later, after which IS continued its destruction of the ‘idolatrous’ temples and images. Within two months the terrorists had levelled most of the site’s famous raised pillars called the Tetrapylon, and destroyed the carved facade of the ancient amphitheatre which had been the site of many of the executions.

The remains of the Temple of Bel in the historical city of Palmyra
The remains of the Temple of Bel in the historical city of Palmyra © Getty

Expressing hope that something could be salvaged from the devastation, antiquities director Mamoun Abdulkarim said:  “Of course the Temple of Bel will never be the same.

"But, according to our experts, we will definitely be able to restore a third of the destroyed cella, or maybe even more if we carry out additional studies.”

Other unexpected good news to emerge was that many of the museum statues seen being destroyed by ISIS terrorists were actually fakes - the originals had been taken out before the Syrian war when the museum was to be refurbished.

As European governments initiated a campaign to restore Palmyra’s monuments, Italian former culture minister Francesco Rutelli drew up ambitious plans to use digital “printing” to reconstruct Palmyra’s fallen temples from their rubble and dust.

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