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Baalbek Roman Architecture

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HobWahid
HobWahid
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5 out of 5
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Editor Pick

Baalbeck

  • March 29, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by stappm from San Francisco, California
A must-see, I believe it is the home of largest Roman temple in the world. And the site was much larger then I had anticipated (actually home to over three temples) and was a stop along an ancient trade route. Plus, in the summer they have a festival here with world-renowned entertainers! It is amazing, from Dizzy Gilespie (yes, DIZZY!) to Warda Al Jazairia.

I took a tour from my hotel that included Baalbeck, Ksara Winery, and Anjar (an entire ancient city!). I went through Nakal Sightseeing Tours, as recommended by my hotel. The tour guide was well informed and multilingual—wonderful! Her name was Madilyn, and she was great! See www.nakhal.com. the price was US$60 and included lunch, an all-day tour (guided), transportation, and hotel drop-off and pick-up. Call 961 1 382 444.

One thing I really enjoyed about the archaeological sites throughout Lebanon: they let you walk around in them. Other places, they would allow you to view it at a distance, and you can never walk all through them (even Stonehenge is blocked off).

Website: http://www.baalbeck.org.lb

From journal Beirut, the Paris of the Middle East

Editor Pick

Baalbek Roman Architecture

  • February 13, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by SkewedStyle from Brooklyn, New York
Baalbek Roman Architecture

The beautiful ruins of Baalbek are relatively near the Syrian border, so if you don’t plan to visit the rest of Lebanon, you can easily pop over for a day trip from Damascus or Hama. I came from Beirut, and detail the horrors of the bus journey in my entry So Where’s the Lebanese Delight? Haggle for the price, but in general most drivers will stick with 5000LL. Most likely, if an incredibly low fare is agreed upon, the driver will claim not to know English later, and demand the 5000LL.

When I arrived in Baalbek, the driver asked when I wanted to be picked up. I don’t know if he really planned to come back for me... there isn’t a real minibus schedule. Maybe he was just curious.

Other travelers assured me that Lebanon did not honor student discounts, but I figured it was worth a try. With a big grin, rare for me in a region where eye contact alone meant I was, uh...easygoing—I asked if there was a student discount. Returning the grin, the clerk said "Of course!" and didn’t even ask for ID. Regular price=10000LL, my price=7000LL. OK, it’s a small discount but I could buy lunch with my savings!

After climbing the grand stairway, I passed into the hexagonal courtyard, then the immense Great Courtyard, which features an altar and the base of the former Great Tower. But the temples are what I came to Baalbek to see.

In 15 B.C. Julius Cesar settled a colony in Heliopolis, the City of the Sun, and began construction on the massive Temple of Jupiter. It was to be the largest such temple in the entire Roman Empire, but after a century and a half of construction, it was still incomplete. Today, only a few columns remain, as the rest was destroyed by earthquakes or looted.

In far better condition, is the Temple of Bacchus. The best-preserved Roman temple in the world, with ceiling carvings so intricate, I walked along the temple staring upwards. The view of the remaining ruins is excellent from the temple’s height, as well.

There are also ruined remains of an Arab fortress, and a lovely small museum featuring treasures of the Roman Empire. A very popular feature are the lionhead carvings dotted around the ruins, where tourists gleefully pose with their heads between the lions’ jaws.

Out in the pleasant small town, I purchased an exquisitely delicious shwarma for much less than in Beirut, tried out some Arabic words on a confused but kind pastry shop proprietor, and people-watched until my bus returned. Maybe it was just time for all buses to return, I wasn’t clear on that because suddenly there were four minibuses and a bunch of shouting drivers and assistants grabbing me and promising prices they wouldn't stick to and tourists scrambling to avoid being stuck in the empty bus. It was a busy, often annoying day, but Baalbek is a fascinating site and an absolute necessity when in the

From journal Where's the Lebanese Delight?

Editor Pick

Baalbek

  • February 3, 2005
  • Rated 5 of 5 by HobWahid from Damascus, Syria
Baalbek

The Temples of Baalbek are the pride of Lebanon and are Lebanon’s most impressive, and noteworthy historical sights. In general, the sad story of Lebanon is that all of its historical sights pale in comparison to similar ones that can be found in nearby Turkey, Syria, or Jordan, but Baalbek is the one sight that Lebanon can claim as a unique and unlike anything else in the world.

Ture, the complex of Baalbek, consists of numerous Roman temples and monuments (nothing unique in that), but what makes the sight outstanding is not only the scale of the temples but their level of preservation. They, above all other Roman era temples, give you an absolute picture of how grand these temples, and the Romans who built them, actually were. Any visitor to Baalbek will stand in awe of the sheer size of the stones used to build these massive structures and will appreciate just how extraordinary they really are.

The area of Baalbek actually consists of a few different sights. The main one, and the only one you have to pay for, contains the Temple of Jupiter and the Temple of Bacchus. The temple of Jupiter is the larger and more singularly impressive of the two merely for its size. Even though it exists in a fairly ruined state today, it is easy to imagine just how grand the structure really was as you enter through the majestic propylon and the oddly octagonal-shaped antechamber. Once through to the main complex of the Temple of Jupiter, you will immediately be stuck by the shear size of the columns. They are some of the largest columns I have ever seen, only losing pout perhaps to the columns at the temple of Karnak in Luxor.
Continuing down from the Temple of Jupiter, you arrive at the smaller but much better preserved of the two temples, the Temple of Bacchus. Although it is smaller, the temple of Bacchus is perhaps more impressive because of its state of preservation. It takes very little imagination when looking up at the immaculately carved lintel or roof to picture just what this temple may have looked like almost 2,000 years ago. Entering into the inner chamber of the temple, the first thing you will see are signs that show you that this temple was a tourist attraction long before you ever arrived, because along the walls are engraved numerous names of travelers who passed this way in 1860 or earlier. On the western side, a plaque commemorating the visit of Kaiser Wilhelm further proves that people have been visiting this fantastic sight long before you.

Besides the temples, the main complex also contains a fantastic museum and the, now locked, Temple of Venus. For a bit of a change of pace, though, you must not forget to visit the old Roman quarry where you can see "the pregnant lady," a large stone that was carved but never moved. And I’ll leave it to you to figure out how they could have moved it…

From journal Lebanon: Playground of the Middle East

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