Robert Amy in the Near East

"There was enough work to keep a man on his toes”, noted Ernest Will in an obituary published in the Syria review in 1987. Nevertheless, Amy was drafted in to complete other tasks in Palmyra, including the restoration of the Triple Arch, and the survey of the Yarhai hypogeum and the Tower of Elahbel with Henri Seyrig.

In his official capacity as an architect for the High Commission he was put in charge of restoring monuments of every kind and from every period throughout Syria and Lebanon, including Christian churches in northern Syria and Muslim buildings in Aleppo, Damascus and other places.

His favourite field of research, however, were the temples of the Imperial Roman period. He recorded the curious temple of Dmeir near Damascus and examined an entire series of temples in southern Syria, Atil, Sanamein, Slem and at other sites, providing him with material for his important article on staircase temples published in Syria (n°27, 1950).