Officially name: The Republic of Lebanon
Capital: Beirut
Largest city: Beirut
Official language: Arabic
Government: Confessionalist, parliamentary republic
The Baalbeck International Festival is the oldest and best-known cultural event in the Middle East and the eastern Mediterranean. Since 1955, hundreds of thousands of people from around the world have flocked to the city of Baalbek in the Beqaa Valley of Lebanon to attend the annual festival.