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culture
and entertainment
The
Baalbek International Festival... Lebanon,
Venus, Jupiter...
The
BaalBek
(Baalbeck)
International Festival
takes place in the summer season in Lebanon,
in the town of Baalbek, in the Bekaa
valley, in Eastern Lebanon, in the remains of
an ancient Roman Acropolis (Fort),
containing some of the most preserved &
largest Roman
temples in the world, dedicated to the Greek
gods of Baalbek (Greek name was Heliopolis), Jupiter
(Zeus, god of sky, ruler of
Olympus),
Venus (Aphrodite, goddess of
love & beauty) & Bacchus (Greek:
Dionysos, god of wine, agriculture
& nature fertility) . The temple
of Bacchus, part of the Roman Acropolis of
Baalbek, was started by Antoninus Pius
(born, 86 AD), its features include monumental
portals, elaborately decorated interior, walls
and ceiling, the temple is said to have been
inaugurated at the same time as the temple of
Venus by Septimus Severus
(ruled,193-211AD). The interior of the temple,
'the cella" was decorated with Corinthian
columns. In the interior of the temple of
Bacchus, the theatrical and chamber music
performances of the Baalbek festival were
held, while the philharmonic orchestra and
ballet performances took place outside, on the
stairs of the temple.
The Baalbek festival, emerged in its current
form, in the mid 1950’s, and it
continued to evolve since. World famous
performers and groups participated in the
festival over the years. Among them, just to
name a few: the Symphony Orchestra of Hamburg,
the Open Air Theater Co., the Paris Opera, the
Milan Opera, Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf
Noureiev with the Royal Ballet, Ballet Rambert,
the Paul Taylor Dance Company, the Alvin Ailey
Dance Theater, the Bolchoi Ballet, the
Stuttgart Opera Ballet Company, the Pittsburgh
Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic,
the Leipzig Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic
under Herbert Von Karajan, the Stuttgart
Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Chamber
Orchestra, the Musici di Roma. And many other
world famous theater groups and performers.
The Festival was halted during the war in
Lebanon. It resumed after 20 years of
interruption in 1997, with "Andalousia,
The Lost Glory", by the Caracalla Dance
Theater, and the Philharmonic Orchestra of
Radio France under Marek Janowski with cellist
Mstislav Rostropovitch.
edited
by T.Farhat, MD - 2001
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Temple of Bacchus
"part" of the Baalbek Roman complex, including,
Temple of Jupiter, Venus, great court, hexagonal court
& others. Later fortifications & additions,
include, Arab Tower, Museum & Mosque
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