Abstract: Stilbenes are an important class of organic compounds carrying a wide variety of useful applications in organic synthesis. These applications include, but are not limited to, asymmetric dihydroxylation, photocyclization, photodimerization, and synthesis of diphenyl acetylenes, bromohydrins, and benzils. Heterocyclic analogues of stilbenes are of interest not only for exploring these various applications but also for their inherent potential to serve as key precursors to the synthesis of a host of novel as well as known heterocycles containing fused imidazole ring systems. We present here the synthesis and characterization of the title cis- and trans-1,2-bis(4-nitro-1-p-methoxybenzylimidazol-5-yl)ethene, I and II.