Invaded by the Mongols in the 12th century, Raqqa has few remains left from that period. These were built by the Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the Abbassids age. Some remains of ancient Raqqa still exist.

Those built in pink tile reflect a particular style of architecture. Of the Jam’e al-Kabir (the Great Mosque), there remains only the minaret, which was reconstructed by Nur al-Din in 1166. Pottery and glass were famous, and there is a museum in the city which contains many relics of ancient Raqqa. A lot of these relics can also be seen in museums in New York, Washington and other Western cities.

Raqqa is beginning to flourish again, and to play an important economic role (after the building of the Euphrates Dam) in the life of modern Syria.

At-Thawra (Tabaqa)

This is a new city that rose up out of the sand. It was inaugurated by President Hafe7 al-Assad in 1973. Al-Thawra. “The Revolution”, is the capital of the area of the Euphrates dam. Here. When people talk of “the dam’, they do not only mean the huge structure that holds back the river (4500 meters long. 60 meters high, 512 meters wide at the base, 41 million cubic meters of rock earth and clay), hut the also mean the al-Assad lake ( long, with 12 billion cubic meters water. and a hydroelectric power—station. as well as the 640.000 hectares of agricultural land now brought under cultist action.

Gone are the fears of devastating floods. Experimental farms and agricultural colleges are pointing the way to the future.

Thanks to the cooperation between UNESCO and the Syrian government, monuments of the site were saved from the river flood, including J’ahar Citadel and the two minarets of Maskana and Abi Hurayar; relics of these sites can now be seen in the Aleppo Museum.

In the distance, on the other hank of the dam, a prink fortress appears reflected in the blue water of the lake.

This is Qal’at J’abar, one of the Seleucid fortresses reconstructed by Nur al-Din in the 12th century.

It is surrounded by two walls with thirty-five towers of different shapes. The facades of the towers are richly decorated with ornamentations and inscriptions.

The citadel, s has been restored, is to be a tourist center.