Damascus: Syria's capital and its World Heritage Ancient City
Background
Damascus is the capital of Syria, and the Ancient City of Damascus is a UNESCO World Heritage property.
UNESCO records that the city was founded in the 3rd millennium B.C. and calls it one of the oldest cities in the Middle East.
The property holds some 125 monuments from different periods of its history.
Among them is the 8th-century Great Mosque of the Umayyads, built on the site of an Assyrian sanctuary.
The Ancient City of Damascus was inscribed in 1979 under cultural criteria (i), (ii), (iii), (iv) and (vi).
It has stood on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2013.
In plain words
World Heritage in Danger — A UNESCO list of World Heritage properties facing serious and specific threats to the values for which they were inscribed.
Umayyad — An early Arab dynasty whose capital was Damascus and whose builders left major mosques across West Asia.