Baalbek

1 · POSITION

Baalbek, Heliopolis — the city of the sun — in the Bekaa valley, was a noted oracle and place of pilgrimage whose cult spread as far as Athens and Rome. Its Roman temple complex grew from the reign of Augustus until the rise of Christianity; UNESCO inscribed it in 1984. The register holds it as a sanctuary that received pilgrims for centuries and a hotel that has received visitors since 1874. [1, 2]

2 · THE TEMPLES

The temple of Jupiter was built in the middle of the first century AD and probably finished about AD 60; beside it stood temples to Venus and to Bacchus. The colossal Roman structures are the setting of the long-running Baalbek International Festival, which the register holds under its own code. [1, 2]

3 · THE PALMYRA HOTEL

A Greek businessman opened the Palmyra Hotel in 1874 to lodge the visitors to the ruins. Its guests have included Kaiser Wilhelm, the Shah of Iran, Charles de Gaulle, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone and Jacques Chirac. It was last refurbished in the 1960s, and by 2019 eight staff ran it where sixty once had — but it had never closed for a single day. [3]

4 · A PILGRIM CITY

Baalbek is the register’s case of a sanctuary that became a destination twice: once for the worshippers of the Roman god, and once for the travellers who came to see what was left of him. [1, 3]

5 · ⚑ CANDOUR

⚑ The dates of the temples of Venus and Bacchus are not given by the sources read. The hotel’s founder is not named. [1–3]