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San Francisco Church
San Francisco Church was built in the 1930s and offers services primarily for Libyas expat community. The sanctuary is quite simple, with a towering mural behind the altar. On the walls around the 1st-floor balcony are murals of the Twelve Stations of the Cross. Mass is conducted i
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Fountain of Apollo
The path down from the agora leads to the Fountain of Apollo. This delightful spot under the cliff is a good place to rest in the shade to the accompaniment of a particularly vocal colony of frogs. This small thermal complex at the outlet of a natural spring was built in the 5th ce
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Nymphaeum
East of the palaestra and Hadrianic Baths is an open square overlooked by the Nymphaeum, or Temple of Nymphs. Although half-collapsed and requiring considerable imagination, its superb façade of red-granite and cipolin columns was once reminiscent of the façade of Roman theatres an
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Agora
The Agora was the heart of ancient Cyrene, serving as a public square, a forum for orators, a market and a magnet for the powerful people of the day. Many civic and religious buildings were clustered around the agora. Many still bear the traces of Roman influence, superimposed onto
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Naval Monument
The most distinctive of the agoras monuments is the reconstructed Naval Monument , originally built by the Ptolemies in the 3rd century BC in celebration of a naval victory. This stunning statue features a wingless (and now headless) Victoria standing on the prow of a ship, flanked
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Atik Mosque
Next door to the post office is the Atik Mosque. This was once the oldest mosque in Ghadames, if not all of Libya. The original mosque on this site was built in 44 AH (AD 666) and, incredibly, survived until 1943, when it was destroyed by Allied bombing. The sanctuary is off-limits
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Main Square
The Main Square of Ghadames is, like the seven tributary squares, surprisingly small in size given its importance in the public life of the city. With two mosques overlooking its open courtyard, the square is simple and lacks the charm of some of the smaller squares. In a niche on
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Eastern Quay
One of the best-preserved sections of the port is the Eastern Quay, with warehouses, the ruins of a watchtower and some of the loading docks. Look also for the imposing staircase of the Temple of Jupiter Dolichenus. Jupiter Dolichenus was a little-known Syrian deity at the time of
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Tingazin Square
After about a 300m walk north of Jarasan Sq, you reach Tingazin Square which also represents the start of Tingazin St. Although similar in size to the earlier square, the feel is entirely different. This delightful square is completely covered from the sun and is lit by a soft ligh
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Amphitheatre
Around 3km east of the centre of Leptis Magna (youll need to get here by car), the evocative amphitheatre once held 16,000 people and was hollowed out of a hill in the 1st century AD. The upper stalls may have once been encircled by a colonnaded portico. Note that as the amphitheat
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Hadrianic Baths
The arrival of water and marble in Leptis early in the 2nd century AD prompted the Emperor Hadrian to commission the superb baths bearing his name. The baths were opened in AD 137 (some archaeologists put the date at AD 126-27) and they quickly became one of the social hubs of the
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Monumental Altar
Immediately in front of the Temple of Apollo is the Monumental Altar (6th century BC),which is 22m long and made from limestone covered by marble slabs. Religious rites,including animal sacrifices, were carried out here. The great Greek poet of the age, Callimachus, describes in hi
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Byzantine Gate
Northwest of the basilica, a track leads to Via Trionfale (the Cardo) and the Byzantine Gate. Note the phallic reliefs to the right of the gate - one of many at junctions around the city - which suggest the existence of prostitutes in the ancient city. Also watch out for what look
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Ain al
Maziqh St continues to the outer reaches of old Ghadames. At the end, turn left where a few twists and turns between walled gardens and mud-brick houses, past Dan Bero and the Dan Bero Coffee Shop. Youll finally reach Ain al-Faras, the site of a deep well that gave birth to the cre
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House of Hesychius
On the hill overlooking the agora is the home of Hesychius, a Christian who returned to Cyrene after the AD 365 earthquake in a bid to restore the glory days of the city. Hesychius was a friend of the philosopher and bishop Sinesius. There is a fine mosaic of an angel on the northw
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Masjed Jamal Abdel Nasser
The supremely elegant Masjed Jamal Abdel Nasser was originally the austere, neo-Romanesque Catholic cathedral. The conversion from church to mosque took place on 29 November 1970 in the days after the revolution, with the architectural work being completed in 2003. Much of the form
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Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore
The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore, an unusual circular structure, was the scene of a riotous, women-only, annual celebration and feast. As part of the festivities, the women of Cyrene proceeded from here to the Temple of Demeter, which is outside the city walls and visible in the d
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Temple of Artemis
On the northern side of the Temple of Apollo is the Temple of Artemis. The foundation was laid in the 6th century BC and is thought by some archaeologists to pre-date the Apollo temple. It consisted of a room, or cella, with columns in the centre. It may once have celebrated both A
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Old Forum
The Old Forum of Leptis Magna was the centre of the first Punic settlement on the site (from the 7th century BC) and the early Roman era. The barely excavated remains of Punic houses are off to the northeast. This square was allowed to fall into neglect after the shift of the city
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Old Town Hall
Benghazis Old Town Hall runs along the western side of Freedom Sq. Built during the period of Italian occupation, the town hall is now derelict, rubbish-strewn and closed to the public, although traces of its former elegance remain nonetheless. The decaying, whitewashed Italianate
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