327. Baalbec. Pet.[it] Temple. Intér.[ieur] chap.[iteau]

By the 5th century AD historians already considered the temples of Baalbek among the wonders of the world, such was their magnificence and state of preservation. The Temple of Bacchus, Girault de Prangey's 'Petit Temple', was built by Antoninus Pius in the 2nd century AD and is now the most complete, but had not yet been excavated when Girault de Prangey was there in the 1840s. Modern writers comment on the 19th century graffiti that is visible on the upper storey of the interior, indicating this was well within reach because the space was still full of rubble. The interior of this building has some of the richest decoration of any Roman building and it is not surprising that Girault de Prangey made several different studies here. This detail shows the complex arrangement of decorative elements at the end of the main space or cella, where the internal wall turned through 90 degrees, leading towards the platform on which a cult image would have been placed. The main wall, on the left of the picture is decorated with Corinthian pilasters framing niches on two storeys. Those on the lower level had arched tops, seen at the bottom left corner of the picture, with a decorative cornice above. The main element of this detail is the fragment of arch springing from the capital of a secondary pilaster to turn the corner.

Girault de Prangey made many studies of architectural details at Baalbek as well as general views of the various temples; around twenty-five details from the temple of Bacchus alone. For these details he rarely used anything larger than his half-plate format and very rarely made more than one photograph of each detail, only occasionally experimenting with different sizes or proportions on a single subject.