Petra
The rose-red Nabataean city carved into cliffs, including the Treasury and the Monastery.
Petra was settled by the Nabataeans, an Arab people, by the 4th century BC and had become the capital of their kingdom by the 2nd century BC. The city prospered through its control of caravan routes carrying incense, spices and other goods between Arabia and the Mediterranean. In AD 106 it was absorbed into the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, and it remained inhabited through the Byzantine period before gradually declining in importance.
The city is renowned for its architecture carved directly into the red and pink sandstone cliffs. Visitors approach through the Siq, a narrow natural gorge only three to four metres wide in places, which opens onto Al-Khazneh, the Treasury, a 1st-century AD facade about 37 metres tall. Further into the valley lie a rock-cut theatre, colonnaded street, royal tombs and, reached by a long stairway, Ad Deir, the Monastery, the largest monument on the site.
Knowledge of Petra reached Europe after the Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt visited in 1812. The site was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985 and is managed today as the Petra Archaeological Park, a protected area of more than 26,000 hectares administered from the neighbouring town of Wadi Musa. Excavation and conservation work continue to reveal new structures across the wider landscape.
Highlights
- The Siq, a narrow sandstone gorge leading into the ancient city
- Al-Khazneh, the 1st-century AD Treasury facade
- Ad Deir, the Monastery, reached by a long rock-cut stairway
- The Royal Tombs carved into the cliff face of Jabal al-Khubtha
- Rock-cut theatre and the Colonnaded Street in the city centre
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