EN
Having presented the history of Palmyra, an ancient town situated at the Syrian Desert, the capital of an independent Kingdom of Palmyra in the 3rd century and destroyed in 273 by the Romans, and basing on the hitherto history of archaeological and architectonic studies, the author discusses works in the field of discoveries and monument conservation in this complex. Since 1959 an archaeological mission of the Polish Station of the Meditteranean Archaeology of Warsaw University has been working in Palmyra. Research works in the west of the town on the site of the Dioclecian camp ano in the vicinity of the nearby necropolis in the Valley of Tombs were initiated by Professor Kazimierz Michałowski. At present for 10 years the works have been carried out under the leadership of dr Michał Gawlikowski. The twenty-year period of studies is the time in which the Poles could boast a number of important discoveries as w e ll as studies on the history and art of Palmyra. One of quite important but less known aspects of the Polish activity on the site of the town are conservation works. The next problem presented by the author is a discussion on the causes and kinds of devastations found in Palmyra; a poor condition of architectural monuments was due to both destructive actions of the man already in the ancient times and to natural forces. This led to irreversible losses. Conservation works on this historic complex have been carried out by several Polish conservation teams since 1963. In the nearest future the Polish mission will complete the exploitation of the site of the Diocletian camp. The works have been undertaken on the project of protecting this site against atmospheric erosion and to make the camp open to the visitors. According to the plan (its author is the author of the present article) an open-air archaeological museum is to be made there, playing simultaneously a role of a lapidary collection. This would allow to better present to the visitors subsequent phases of the development of the West District of Palmyra as well as to preserve the most valuable architectonic structures. It may be assumed that during the execution of this plan minor conservation and reconstruction works w ill be done in order to preserve for the forthcoming generations the rescued monuments of Palmyra.