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Monumental Ruins of Palmyra, Les Ruines de Palmyre c1719.

Monumental Ruins of Palmyra, Les Ruines de Palmyre c1719.

by Cornelis de Bruijn

Antique print after Corneille Bruin (Cornelis de Bruijn), one of the finest travel-writer-artists of his time.

Original copperplate engraving for French Benedictine Monk, Dom Bernard de Montfaucon's Antiquité expliquée et représentée en figure (Antiquities Explained and Represented in Figures), published by royal privilege in Paris c1719. Montaucon is considered to be one of the founders of the modern discipline of archaeology, and founder of palaeography (the study of ancient writing systems and the deciphering and dating of historical manuscripts).

1,000 metres long, the great colonnade constitutes the monumental axis of the city of Palmyra. With other perpendicular secondary streets also lined with columns, these columns connected the main public monuments, including the Temple of Bel, the Camp of Diocletian, the Agora, the Theatre, and other temples and living quarters. Outside the fortified enclosure stand the remains of a Roman aqueduct and immense necropolises. (This wonderful engraving shows the Terapyle, a monument of 16 columns which together with the facade of the Roman theatre were destroyed by jihadists during recent conflicts.)

The ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra were classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. Situated 210km northeast of Damascus, Palmyra is adjacent to the modern city of Tadmor in Syria. One of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world, Palmyra was at the crossroads of several civilizations. The art and architecture of Palmyra united 1st and 2nd centuries' Greco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences. Palmyra was an established caravan oasis when it came under Roman control in the first half of the 1st century and was attached to the Roman province of Syria. It became a prosperous city on the trade route linking Persia, India and China to the Roman Empire.

Page size is 420 x 515mm (16.50 x 20.25 inches). To plate mark measures 330 x 425mm (13 x 16.75 inches)

 

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Stock Number: apBruin104Price: $295.00

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