The Palmyra archaeological museum, which was severely damaged during the Syrian civil war, will be restored with funds from international Swiss-based foundation Aliph, its director told The National.
The site made world headlines in 2015 when ISIS blew up the Temple of Bel, the Arch of Victory and beheaded the Unesco site's head of antiquities. Palmyra also sustained bombing by the Syrian regime and its ally Russia. Most of the population of the nearby city fled and has yet to return.
"We are ready to rehabilitate the museum, its collection and to start to restore part of the site – the guesthouse and the footbridge to the fortress," said Aliph executive director Valery Freland at a conference in Lausanne, Switzerland. The guesthouse is set to house archaeologists working on the 2,000-year old site. Mr Freland did not specify how much the restoration would cost.
There are currently no facilities on site to cater to visitors, though a trickle of tourists continue to visit what used to be Syria's most popular site before the 2011 civil war. Photos of recent visits to the museum, which was built in 1961, show a collapsed roof and a broken sarcophagus from the Palmyrean era. The museum's plaque appears to be hanging sideways by a nail, half blown off. The footbridge is heavily damaged and dangerous to cross.
The cost of the rebuilding project will be estimated once an operator for the museum is appointed and when the plans have been agreed with the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums. Most of the old museum building is likely to remain but large parts are expected to be modernised. Aliph in July announced a two-year programme to protect Syrian heritage sites of $5 million. This includes Palmyra but also the Crac des Chevaliers near Homs, as well as sites in Damascus and Aleppo.
"Palmyra will be one of our flagship projects for the coming months and years," Mr Freland said.
The foundation, which protects heritage sites in conflict, post-conflict, and crisis areas, is mostly funded by nations – France, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Morocco, Luxembourg, China, Uzbekistan and Cyprus – as well as private donors.
Aliph was among the organisers of the first major post-war conferences on Palmyra in collaboration with Unesco, the Directorate General of Antiquities and Museums of Syria and the University of Lausanne.
The conference in Lausanne brought together experts, academics and international institutions to discuss the way forward for Palmyra. The museum's restoration and safeguarding of its artefacts will take up to three years, said Patrick Michel, senior lecturer at the University of Lausanne's department of ancient science and archaeology.
"The museum will be also a place for the community to gather, to hold events and to welcome new visitors," Mr Michel said. "And the second priority is to not yet restore, but to secure the remaining monuments."
Despite the destruction, the site remains breath-taking for the casual visitor due to its sheer magnitude. "Imagine going to Paris without the Eiffel Tower, the Sacre Coeur and the Louvre museum but you can still walk through its boulevards," he said. "Palmyra is like that."
Also on the agenda were discussions to plan Palmyra's removal from the list of Unesco's World Heritage in Danger, which it and other sites in Syria were added to in 2013 due to the civil war. Placing the site on that list was a way of highlighting the danger of conflict in addition to opening the door to extra funding, said Youmna Tabet, programme specialist at Unesco's World Heritage Centre.
"Palmyra's removal from this listing will signal that it's entered a new, more hopeful era," Ms Tabet said.
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LAST-16 EUROPA LEAGUE FIXTURES
Wednesday (Kick-offs UAE)
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
PROFILE
Name: Enhance Fitness
Year started: 2018
Based: UAE
Employees: 200
Amount raised: $3m
Investors: Global Ventures and angel investors
Trump v Khan
2016: Feud begins after Khan criticised Trump’s proposed Muslim travel ban to US
2017: Trump criticises Khan’s ‘no reason to be alarmed’ response to London Bridge terror attacks
2019: Trump calls Khan a “stone cold loser” before first state visit
2019: Trump tweets about “Khan’s Londonistan”, calling him “a national disgrace”
2022: Khan’s office attributes rise in Islamophobic abuse against the major to hostility stoked during Trump’s presidency
July 2025 During a golfing trip to Scotland, Trump calls Khan “a nasty person”
Sept 2025 Trump blames Khan for London’s “stabbings and the dirt and the filth”.
Dec 2025 Trump suggests migrants got Khan elected, calls him a “horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor”
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Emirates exiles
Will Wilson is not the first player to have attained high-class representative honours after first learning to play rugby on the playing fields of UAE.
Jonny Macdonald
Abu Dhabi-born and raised, the current Jebel Ali Dragons assistant coach was selected to play for Scotland at the Hong Kong Sevens in 2011.
Jordan Onojaife
Having started rugby by chance when the Jumeirah College team were short of players, he later won the World Under 20 Championship with England.
Devante Onojaife
Followed older brother Jordan into England age-group rugby, as well as the pro game at Northampton Saints, but recently switched allegiance to Scotland.
