Is nested in a plain between the parallel ranges of Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains, some 85 kilometers north-east of Beirut.
It is one of the world’s greatest historical sites, the most gigantic complex of Roman temples ever built; its columns are the tallest ever created, its stones the largest ever used. The Acropolis of Baalbeck is the largest and best preserved corpus of Roman architecture left to us. Its temples, dedicated to Jupiter, Venus and Bacchus (larger than Parthenon in Athens).were built in the second and third centuries AD.
Baal-Bek, or town of Baal (who was a Phoenician god) gave the name to the town that is still in use. For a number of years Baalbeck’s flooflit mercurial columns presided over the annual renowned international festival which featured theater groups, orchestras, ballet troupes and performers from all parts of the world.