Assad Mausoleum (), commonly known as Hafez al-Assad Mausoleum (), officially known as "Immortal Leader's Mausoleum" () during the Ba'athist regime, was the mausoleum of the

Assad family The Assad family ruled Syria from 1971, when Hafez al-Assad became president under the Ba'ath Party following the 1970 coup, until Bashar al-Assad was ousted on 8 December 2024. Bashar succeeded his father, Hafez al-Assad, after Hafez's deat ...

, which ruled

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

from 1971 until 2024. It was mainly centered on the mausoleum of former

President of Syria The president of Syria (), officially the president of the Syrian Arab Republic, is the head of state and head of government of Syria. The president directs the executive branch and serves as the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Army and Syrian ...

Hafez al-Assad Hafez al-Assad (6 October 193010 June 2000) was a Syrian politician and military officer who was the president of Syria from 1971 until Death and state funeral of Hafez al-Assad, his death in 2000. He was previously the Prime Minister of Syria ...

and his eldest son

Bassel al-Assad Bassel al-Assad (; 23 March 196221 January 1994) was a Syrian military officer, engineer and politician. He was the eldest son of the 18th Syrian president Hafez al-Assad. He was expected to succeed his father as president until his death in a ...

. The mausoleum was located in the village of

Qardaha Qardaha ( / ALA-LC: ''Qardāḥah'') is a town in northwestern Syria, in the mountains overlooking the coastal town of Latakia. Nearby localities include Kilmakho to the west, Bustan al-Basha to the southwest, Harf al-Musaytirah to the south ...

Latakia Governorate Latakia Governorate ( / ALA-LC: ''Muḥāfaẓat al-Lādhiqīyah''), also transliterated as Ladhakia, is one of the 14 Governorates of Syria, governorates of Syria. It is situated in northwestern Syria, bordering Turkey's Hatay Province to the no ...

, in the Syrian Coastal Mountains. The predominantly

Alawite Alawites () are an Arabs, Arab ethnoreligious group who live primarily in the Levant region in West Asia and follow Alawism, a sect of Islam that splintered from early Shia as a ''ghulat'' branch during the ninth century. Alawites venerate A ...

village was the traditional home of the

. On 11 December 2024, after the

fall of the Assad regime On 8 December 2024, the Assad regime collapsed during a 2024 Syrian opposition offensives, major offensive by Syrian opposition, opposition forces. The offensive was spearheaded by Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and supported mainly by the Turk ...

, the mausoleum was sacked by rebels.

History

The mausoleum stood at the land of Sheikh Ali al-Khayyir's house, which was 3 acres in size.

Jamil al-Assad Jamil al-Assad (; 1933 – 15 December 2004) was a younger brother of the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, and the uncle of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He served in the People's Assembly of Syria from 1971 until his death in 2004 ...

and Jaber Shalish forced al-Khayyir to sell the land for less than $200, and initially, they refused it. Since they were powerless, they handed over the land to Assad. Upon acquiring the land, Assad commissioned Military Housing Establishment to build the mausoleum. In 1989, the Syrian government commissioned architect Abdul Rahman Naassan to design the Naissa Mosque in

, which was named after Naissa Shalish al-Assad, the mother of then-President

.Miller, Majorie and Daniszewski, John
Mourners Say Goodbye to Syria’s ‘Lion’
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

''. 14 June 2000.Naissa Mosque
Archnet Digital Library. From then on, Qardaha became the hub for the Assad regime's promotion of the "

cult of personality A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader,Cas Mudde, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create ...

". In 1994,

, the president's eldest son and designated successor, died in a car accident. The Syrian government buried him near the mosque and built a mausoleum. On 10 June 2000, Hafez al-Assad died suddenly of a heart attack. After a state funeral in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, his body was airlifted to the Naissa Mosque and buried in the center of the mausoleum. Since then, the mausoleum of Assad and his son had been guarded and maintained by the Syrian security forces and was open to tourists.

Bashar al-Assad Bashar al-Assad (born 11September 1965) is a Syrian politician, military officer and former dictator Sources characterising Assad as a dictator: who served as the president of Syria from 2000 until fall of the Assad regime, his government ...

, the second son of Hafez and the younger brother of Bassel, became the President of Syria after his father's death. On 11 December 2024, after the overthrow of his son Bashar following 13 years of civil war, rebels set fire and burned Hafez al-Assad's tomb inside the mausoleum. Videos of armed men burning Assad's grave and urinating on it were published online. On 28 April 2025, videos and photos on social media showed his grave being exhumed by unidentified individuals. His remains were reportedly transferred to an unknown location.

Architecture

The mausoleum was a mixture of classical

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

and

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

architecture. The overall structure was octagonal in shape. The interior design was clean and restrained. The interior space was large and spacious, with multiple arched high-rise structures. The exterior was decorated with excerpts from the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

in stone in

Arabic calligraphy Arabic calligraphy is the artistic practice of penmanship, handwriting and calligraphy based on the Arabic alphabet. It is known in Arabic language, Arabic as ''khatt'' (), derived from the words 'line', 'design', or 'construction'. Kufic is the ...

References

External links

{{Commons category
Tomb of Hafez al-Assad, Al Qardahah, Syria
Hafez al-Assad Assad family Mausoleums in Syria Buildings and structures in Latakia Governorate Cemeteries in Syria Buildings and structures completed in 1994 Buildings and structures demolished in 2024 Buildings and structures destroyed by arson 1994 establishments in Syria 2024 disestablishments in Syria

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links