Noréas de Hama

Photo in the Public Domain.

Noréas de Hama is part of the Tentative list of Syria in order to qualify for inclusion in the World Heritage List.

The Norea of Hama are hydropowered wooden wheels to lift water from the river Orontes into an aqueduct for further distribution. 17 of them remain, dating from the 13th-14th centuries. They were used for irrigation but now mostly serve an aesthetic purpose.

Map of Noréas de Hama

Load map

The coordinates shown for all tentative sites were produced as a community effort. They are not official and may change on inscription.

Community Reviews

Write a review


Persian Globetrotter

Spain - Iran - 29-Nov-23 -

In March 2020 I visited Hama on the way to Aleppo, there are seventeen Wheels in Hama, I was able to visit the most central ones in the main squarethe Norias are centuries old and have survived many wars including the last one. They are admirable to see, the people of Hama go to spend time and have picnics and smoke Sisha around them. If UNESCO inscribed the Hama Waterwheels, they would have greater conservation and protection.

Read more from Persian Globetrotter here.


Michael Novins

United States - 23-Apr-17 -

Noréas de Hama (T) by Michael Novins

In May 2009, the Baron Hotel in Aleppo organized a car and driver to take me and another guest on a day tour to visit Serjilla and Al-Bara, two of the Dead Cities, and Apamea. Since the other guest was continuing to Hama, we visited a few of the remaining 17 original norias (water wheels) before I returned to Aleppo.

The norias move water from a lower to a higher elevation and do not provide mechanical power to any other process, unlike the water wheels at mills.


Full Name
Noréas de Hama
Country
Syria
Added
1999
Type
Cultural
Categories
Structure - Civic and Public Works
Link
By ID
1999 Added to Tentative List

Unesco Website: Noréas de Hama

The site has 1 locations

Noréas de Hama (T)
WHS 1997-2024