A major part of the Syrian city of Palmyra has been forever lost after an explosion in the ISIS-controlled city destroyed the Temple of Bel.
A satellite image released Monday showed that the main part of the 2,000-year-old temple was destroyed in a blast that went off on the weekend.
This above combination of two satellite images shows damage to the main building of the ancient Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria on Monday, Aug. 31, 2015, top, and before the damage on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2015.
Clemens Reichel, an assistant professor of archeology and associate curator at the Royal Ontario Museum, has spent time working in Palmyra.
He told CTV's Canada AM Tuesday that the Temple of Bel was the best-preserved and most substantial structure at Palmyra, which UNESCO has designated a world heritage site.
The art and architecture of Palmyra is notable for its Greco-Roman features combined with Oriental finishes, he said.
"It really epitomizes the heritage of the site so well," Reichel said. "It looks like a classical site that could be anywhere in Greece or Rome, but it has this cosmopolitan citizenship of Mesopotamians, of ancient Syrians, of Greeks, of Romans."
Reichel said the artifacts in Palmyra are special because they give a glimpse into the life of the residents of the ancient city.
For example, within Palmyra are figures that were used to adorn tombs. The figures often depicted Palmyrans.
"It gives a very good idea of who these people were and how they dressed," Reichel said.
The Temple of Bel isn't the first cultural heritage site ISIS has destroyed.
Last week, the militant extremist group destroyed the smaller Temple of Baalshamin , prompting UNESCO to condemn the act as a war crime.
This undated file photo released on Aug. 25, 2015 on a social media site used by Islamic State militants, and which has been verified with other AP reporting, shows the demolished 2,000-year-old temple of Baalshamin in Syria's ancient city of Palmyra. (Islamic State social media account via AP)
And earlier in August, witnesses said ISIS militants were responsible for beheading 81-year-old scholar Khaled al-Asaad, who devoted his life to researching Palmyra.
ISIS captured Palmyra in May after a week of fighting with Syrian government troops. The capture sparked a fear among archeologists that the heritage site would come under attack, which it inevitably did.
The group h in Iraq, including Hatra, the Mosque of the Prophet Jirjis, and items in the Nineveh Museum.
Militants destroy Iraq's Hatra archaeological site. (Photo from AP)
Reichel said the destruction of cultural heritage sites falls in line with ISIS' ideology. However, some authorities believe the group destroys the sites to cover up the subsequent sale of the priceless artifacts on the black market.
"Obviously, ISIS is iconoclastic," Reichel said. "It wants to take these sites on (because) it has nothing really to offer as a counterpart.
"It's probably partly religious, but it's this nihilism that they stand for that makes them wipe everything out."
As a result, the world has now lost some key parts of Palmyra forever.
"This is the thing about cultural heritage -- once it's gone, it's gone. We cannot actually recreate it," Reichel said. "It won't grow back in a hundred years, so there will be no other Bel Temple ever to look at again.
"It really breaks my heart that we are the last generation to see this magnificent monument."
With files from The Associated Press
