Skip to main content

Baalbek: symbol of power or living city?

The “Baalbek: Archives of an Eternity” exhibition collected an unprecedented number of objects from the ancient Lebanese city, exploring the interplay of power and people through the millennia.
Photo1.jpg

“The expression of power and of sacred practice into the physical and mercurial form of these glorious temples [in Baalbek] … is too big and too heavy to be human,” Vali Mahlouji, curator of the iconoclastic exhibition “Baalbek: Archives of an Eternity,” told Al-Monitor.

“As grand as [Baalbek’s temples] are, they suppress 7,000 years before it … and it evicts the town [currently there] — it pushes it out,” he said, adding that this is why it was interesting as a power and authority symbol.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.