With improving but still patchy labelling in English and Arabic, Palmyra Museum is worth a quick visit to add some context to the ruins. There’s a good, large-scale model of the Temple of Bel in its original state and some fine mosaics found in what are presumed to be nobles’ houses, just east of the temple.
Other highlights include a collection of coins depicting Zenobia and her son, countless busts and reliefs that formed part of the panels used to seal the loculi in Palmyra’s many funerary towers and hypogea (underground burial chambers), and an outstanding, 3m-high statue of the goddess Allat, associated with the Greek Athena.
Upstairs are newer exhibits that add a little depth to this otherwise modest collection: four mummies discovered in 2004 (note the shoes and children’s bones arrayed in front of the four adult bodies) and a room exhibiting local Bedouin clothes and jewellery.
