Idlib travel guide

Idlib is the chief town of the Mouhafazat (Governorate) of the same name. A series of roads radiate from the town, connecting it with the road leading to the Syrian/Turkish border crossing of Bab al-Hawa, the main Aleppo–Damascus motorway and the road to Lattakia. It’s not the most interesting town but it does have an excellent museum which is well worth a visit for its impressive collection from the excavations at Ebla (Tell Mardikh).

Regular microbuses depart for Idlib (S£85) from Aleppo’s city/microbus station (off Bab Antakya Street).

Idlib museum (Wed-Mon 0900-1800 in summer, 0900-1600 in winter, S£150, students S£10) is on the east side of town, beside Ath Thawra Square (actually a large roundabout on the ring road). There are various pieces of mosaics, carved friezes, capitals and other architectural fragments in the gardens of the museum which are worth a look. Inside, on the ground floor, there are more mosaics (some of them very impressive), terracotta figurines, various items of pottery and ceramics, and an extensive collection of coins spanning the Roman through to the Ottoman periods. There are also some displays of costumes and fabrics (very much in the usual ‘popular traditions’ mould), and some contemporary paintings. The main focus of interest, however, is the ‘Ebla Pavilion’ on the first floor. The displays here are well presented and there is an impressive collection of the famous clay tablets inscribed in the Sumerian cuneiform script. Other artefacts include fragments of furniture covered in gold leaf, incredibly intricate terracotta figurines, gold and lapis lazuli jewellery, fragments of inlaid friezes and a relief of the Semitic fertility goddess Ishtar. All these artefacts, together with the various photos of the site at the time of the excavations, go a long way towards bringing Ebla to life. Also upstairs, at the opposite end to the ‘Ebla Pavilion’ are cases displaying a rich and impressive collection of artefacts from various other sites in the vicinity of Idlib.