The antiquities museum in the Syrian capital Damascus welcomed its first batch of visitors on October 28 after six years of closure to protect its exhibits from the civil war. / VCG Photo

Syria reopened a wing of the capital's famed antiquities museum to public on Sunday. A two-day international symposium bringing together archaeologists from all over the world was also held./ VCG Photo

Many of the over 700 archaeological sites in Syria have been destroyed, damaged or looted since the start of the war. The Damascus museum, founded in 1920, was closed one year after the civil war to protect its cultural relics from firearms./ VCG Photo

Mahmoud Hammoud, the director of the Syrian heritage and museum authority, said the reopening of the museum is proof that culture has triumphed over terrorism and Syria will reopen other museums in the future./ VCG Photo