Baalbek in nachantiker Zeit

The World Heritage site of Baalbek in Lebanon is amongst the oldest cities of the world with a continuous occupation. In its centre there is the monumental Roman sanctuary of Jupiter which had been Christianised in Byzantine times and turned into a citadel in the Islamic Middle Ages. In all post-Antique periods earlier building structures were economically included into new building measures. Major alterations occurred in the time of Christianisation [4th to 6th century], when temples were re-dedicated and churches and roads newly built. With the Bustan Nassif an entire Medieval city quarter has been excavated including its residential buildings of five different types, its souq lanes, and public buildings. Other rebuilding phases were owed to serious earthquakes of the 12th and Mongolian invasions of the 13th century. The Medieval city was both a rich commercial town and an important spiritual and religious centre. Its second heyday in the 19th century was connected to the “Tanzimat” reforms reorganising the Osman Empire and is reflected e. g. by houses with a central hall in the Christian quarter and redensification in the historic Muslim city centre.