VENICE.- Sara Shamma presents The Tower Tomb of Palmyra for the National Pavilion of Syria at the 61st Venice Biennale. Commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, the exhibition is curated by Yuko Hasegawa and is on view from May 9–November 22, 2026, in the open-air courtyard of the Università Iuav di Venezia, Cotonificio campus.

The exhibition explores Syria’s cultural heritage and Palmyra’s diverse histories, while also advocating for the restituition of antiquities looted during the Syrian war (2011–2024). Conceived at full scale, the installation takes the form of a monumental freestanding tower inspired by the funerary architecture of ancient Palmyra—originally built between the first and third centuries AD, the tower tombs were later destroyed during the war. Its interior unfolds as an immersive circular environment shaped by painting, light, sound, and scent. Reimagining one of the ancient world’s most iconic architectural forms with striking contemporary resonance, the pavilion marks a significant moment in Syria’s international cultural engagement following the war.

“The Tower Tomb of Palmyra is not about mourning the past. It is about drawing strength from history in order to imagine the future.” —Sara Shamma, Artist

“Conceived prior to the global rupture of the pandemic and realised amid the renewed violence of war in the Middle East, the project unfolds within a continuum of interruption, displacement, and persistence. It is at once a work of art, an archaeological echo, and a contemporary testimony to the fragility of human existence. This work transforms memory into a living experience, where absence becomes presence, and where the past continues to resonate within the present.” —Yuko Hasegawa, Curator

Historical context

At the heart of the project lies Palmyra, one of the most significant cultural crossroads of the ancient world. Between the first and third centuries AD, it flourished as a crossroads of Greco-Roman, Aramaic, and Arab cultures, where communities of different religions and backgrounds coexisted in harmony, tolerance, and mutual respect. Among its most distinctive architectural forms were the funerary tower tombs, multi-storey structures built for extended families, rising prominently above the desert landscape. Inside, rows of loculi were sealed with sculpted funerary reliefs: portraits of the deceased that conveyed not only likeness but status, belonging, and collective lineage. These towers were not simply places of burial. They were spaces of memory and presence, where the boundary between the living and the dead was conceived not as separation, but as continuity. The destruction of its monuments in recent years represented not only the loss of architectural heritage, but an attempt to erase cultural memory itself. Hundreds of funerary portraits were looted and dispersed, severing objects from their historical and spatial context.

The pavilion

Rather than reconstructing the lost monument, Shamma reinterprets it as a contemporary artistic environment. The structure unfolds into a circular, immersive interior composed of large-scale figurative paintings, including a central multi-panel composition evoking the ancient motif of the funerary banquet, forming a continuous surrounding field that envelops the viewer. Here, the ancient and the contemporary coexist. The figures, while rooted in the visual language of Palmyrene funerary portraiture, are modern and psychologically charged, with some scenes exploring the fragility of human existence.

Light is carefully orchestrated to heighten intimacy and perception, while an original sound composition evokes the atmosphere of Palmyra’s desert landscape. A subtle fragrance, developed in collaboration with a traditional perfumer in Damascus, also fills the space. The result is not an exhibition to observe, but a space to inhabit, where memory is encountered through sensation as much as through image.

Public programming

A series of talks, video presentations, and cultural events will take place across major Syrian cities throughout the duration of the Biennale, expanding the pavilion’s engagement beyond Venice into a wider national context. Syrian students from universities across Italy will also be invited to a talk and presentation on the pavilion, offering insight into its conception, research, and design process. This initiative is developed in collaboration with the Università Iuav di Venezia (University Institute of Architecture of Venice), which focuses on education and research.