Syria - Libraries and museums

The Assad National Library founded in 1984 in Damascus and an adjunct of the Arab Academy, has 262,000 volumes and is well known for rare books and manuscripts. There are three other national libraries, located in Aleppo, Homs, and Latakia. The library of the University of Damascus has 169,000 volumes. The Al Zahiriah public library in Damascus has 100,000 volumes.

The most important museum is the National Museum in Damascus, founded in 1919. It contains ancient Oriental, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic collections and houses the Directorate-General of Antiquities, established in 1947, which supervises excavations and conserves antiquities under the Antiquities Law. There are small museums in Aleppo, Hama, Homs, Palmyra, Tartos, and other cities.