The Baalbeck Temples

The Baalbek Temples are famous for their exquisitely detailed yet monumentally scaled ruins of the Roman period, when the city Baalbek, then known as Heliopolis, was one of the largest sanctuaries in the empire. It is Lebanon’s greatest Roman treasure, and it can be counted among the wonders of the ancient world, containing some of the largest and best preserved Roman ruins. The town is about 85 km (53 mi) northeast of Beirut and about 75 km (47 mi) north of Damascus. It has a population of approximately 72,000.

“Baalbek, with its colossal structures, is one of the finest examples of Imperial Roman architecture at its apogee”, UNESCO reported in making Baalbek a World Heritage Site in 1984. When the committee inscribed the site, it expressed the wish that the protected area include the entire town within the Arab walls, as well as the southwestern extramural quarter between Bastan-al-Khan, the Roman site and the Mameluk mosque of Ras-al-Ain. Lebanon’s representative gave assurances that the committee’s wish would be honored.

Baalbek is home to the annual Baalbeck International Festival.