Petra Jordan wonder of the world history. Ancient city of Petra
The city of Petra, built thousands of years ago in the desert of Jordan, its majestic facade hidden behind huge rocks still holds all the magic and mystery that its builders left behind.
, the reason for the emergence of a city in such a place, began with water - the most necessary component in the desert. With only six inches of rainfall per year, the builders of this strange city managed to harness the water with expertly designed technical pipelines that supplied water to 20,000 people and, in addition, was capable of supplying water to any modern city, with a population of hundreds of thousands of people.
Water was collected in pools, cisterns, and waterways, distributing water throughout the city. How could the nomadic tribe that built this city, which was the richest city of its time, cope with such a difficult task? Today there is no clear answer to this question, but each new study of the city gradually brings archaeologists closer to the answer.
Petra means "stone" in Greek and also comes from the Arabic word "Al-Batra".
The city of Petra, located 250 km from the capital of Jordan, Amman, was the capital of the Nabataea Empire from 400 BC. — 106g. BC. Located at the crossroads of two important trade routes from Western Asia, and the other north of South Arabia, this provided great opportunities for rulers to collect taxes, as well as the opportunity to develop and improve trade. They traded textiles, incense, precious metals, ivory and spices in wagons, on land and even at sea with the help of ancient sea vessels, known as flat-bottomed boats.
This was also possible due to the fact that Petra offered passing merchants and caravans the opportunity to rest and replenish their water supplies, of course for a certain fee.
By 100g. BC. Petra reached its peak by driving the Arab frankincense trade and its location on important trade routes, making Petra one of the wealthiest cities in the world.
Petra was first discovered in 1812 by Swiss geographer Johannes L. Burckhardt, but the mystery of the origins of the Nabatean people remains unsolved to this day. Before they arrived in this area, it was inhabited by Edomites, but those who carved and built the city in the rock were people of the Nabatean people.
These nomads, who came from southern Arabia, were just like the gypsy traders who roamed the rest of the world. Since they managed to build such a beautiful city carved into a rock from solid stone? Besides, how did they become such excellent city planners, engineers and skilled masons? Where did the knowledge of how to carve niches and doorways into solid rock, as well as create spectacular sculptures, come from ordinary nomadic people?
To date, no answers to these questions have been found. The reason for this is that these mysterious people did not leave written evidence of their time, which is a really strange thing, because according to researchers, most of the advanced ancient civilizations left some kind of written evidence of their culture, such as Sumerian stone tablets, Egyptian hieroglyphs, and etc. But nothing of the sort was left behind by Nabatean.
An even more puzzling fact is that these people were capable of writing, according to anthropologists and archaeologists, as established by numerous inscriptions and bas-reliefs on the walls. So, why not leave some written evidence of your fame or some record of your origins?
2000 years is a long time to make definite assumptions. But we know that they were an advanced people. The biggest proof is the way they built their city. Big capital, built in a small hole in the rocks, 1200 meters long and only three to four meters wide, surrounded by high gorges stretching upward as far as the eye could see.
The majestic empire was shaken by several earthquakes, which led to its decline. And then, suddenly, this nomadic people disappeared from the pages of history, without any apparent reason there are no more mentions of it, where they came from, and where they went, leaving such a large structure, remains another mystery today.
The ancient name of Petra was Rekiem, which is also mentioned in the Scrolls Dead Sea. But the builders kept their secrets and all other information about themselves, leaving them a mystery to the rest of the world.
Another mystery of the Nabatean people is their most magnificent structure, which appears before the eyes as soon as one emerges from the small entrance through the mountain gap. It is a ‘Treasury’, (so called) because no other use could be found for it. There are no graves or burials near it, nor is there any evidence that caravans or carriages passed near it, or that any records were kept here, and if there were any, none were found.
So what is this cleverly designed for? architectural structure was it done? This question is still awaiting an answer. Perhaps a line from John William Burgon's poem is the right way to describe this mysterious city: "red as a rose, a city as ancient as time itself."
The trip from Amman, Israel and Egypt to Petra will be much more tiring and expensive. Stops at the border are inevitable, moreover, moving from Egypt requires crossing the Israeli border, and Israeli border guards are famous for their meticulousness and slowness. In addition, recently a border tax has been collected from those traveling through the Israeli border.
In summer, temperatures along the route reach 50 degrees, which is not very conducive to curiosity. The ideal time for a thoughtful visit to Petra is late autumn, winter, spring. It's not hot at this time, you should even stock up on a jumper.
The place is so interesting that it’s worth dedicating more than one day to it, although, of course, you can do it in one day excursion. The fact is that in order to even just get from the entrance to the city to the main interesting places, you need to walk several kilometers along the narrow (about a meter in some places) Siq canyon. Very lazy and rich tourists hire donkeys or a stroller. There are inevitable pauses to take photographs and scratch your head in amazement.
You can stop for a rest in the town of Wadi Musa next to rock city, or in several hotels directly on the territory of Petra.
City `s history
Petra, despite its unusual appearance, is historically the city - the capital of the Nabataean kingdom, which existed for seven centuries. The city had houses carved into the rock, temples, and tombs. Over these centuries, no one managed to take the city by storm. It's all about the right location and a fantastic communications system.
The city of Petra, “Nakmu” in Nabatean, is located at an altitude of more than six hundred meters above the surrounding area. Climbing the steep cliffs surrounding the city is very difficult. The main resource of the Middle Eastern countries to this day remains water. The nameless builders of the city provided a system for collecting and concentrating all possible precipitation. In the Petra area, the average monthly precipitation in the wettest month, January, is 45 mm; in June there is no precipitation at all. All the water that flowed from the surrounding mountains in the spring months, through canals carved into the rocks, flowed into pools and reservoirs, providing residents with food for the whole year.
The city stood at the crossroads of two trade routes - the Mediterranean Sea - the Persian Gulf and Damascus - the Red Sea. The spice trade brought fantastic income to the Nabateans. Only the discovery of new trade routes to the east by the Romans led to the decline of Petra.
Walk around Petra
All visitors get off the buses before entering the canyon. They sell souvenirs here (residents of Bedouin settlements process ornamental stone at several factories in the area under a government program), there are several coffee shops, and you can hire a crew for a trip through the canyon.
After passing through a canyon with vertical (thirty meters high) walls, you come out to main square El Ghazneh. Usually, guides deliberately “talk their teeth” in order to predict a spectacular moment of exit to the façade of the Treasury. The canyon makes a turn before entering the square, so all the newcomers are looking in the wrong direction. The effect is enormous.
In the building, made famous by the Indiana Jones series, according to legend, the treasures of the pharaohs and, later, Mediterranean pirates were kept. No one is allowed inside. The dimensions of the Treasury are amazing - 40 meters high and 24 meters wide.
At every step, Bedouin children offer to buy souvenirs, even simple stones. Depending on the time of day, the surrounding rocks change color - from soft pink at dawn to orange at sunset. The territory of the city is gigantic, so you can walk here for several days. Some come with their own tents and mountain equipment to spend a few days in the surrounding mountains. Only the cost of staying in Petra changes.
The places here are harsh, therefore, when planning a trip for several days, you need to provide yourself with a supply of water, food (we strongly do not recommend taking alcohol), strong shoes, warm clothes for the night, learn a few Arabic greetings - no one guarantees that you will be understood in Russian (although in Aqaba, all young people speak Russian fluently).
If you ask any local guide how people could build such grandiose buildings without cranes, without forty-meter scaffolding (after all, there is nowhere to get so much wood), they will answer you - they were lowered from above on ropes. Maybe. But a believer will immediately remember the words from the sixth chapter of the biblical Book of Genesis: “At that time there were giants on the earth.” Maybe they really lived here?
Jordan is famous not only for the wonderful beaches of Aqaba and the healing mud of the Dead Sea. Petra is its main attraction, and hundreds of thousands of tourists from all over the world come to see it. The architects who built this city incomprehensibly hollowed out caves in the rocks, turning dead stone into majestic temples and tombs. But then there were no modern tools, and technology had not reached half of the modern level. Nevertheless, people, figuratively speaking, with their bare hands managed to create masterpieces that have survived centuries.
The Nabataeans - the founders of the fairy-tale city among the rocks
According to legend, the Nabateans are descendants of Shem, the son of the world famous Noah. In the 3rd century BC they formed the state of Nabatea. The most important caravan routes for the economy of those times passed through its lands. Therefore, the territory of the Nabatean kingdom was a tasty morsel for many neighboring states and was often attacked. But the Nabateans not only managed to defend their land from invaders, but also subjugated part of Syria and remained independent during the power of the Roman Empire. The Nabataeans had great hatred for the Jews and not only fought with them endlessly, but even ransomed other captured Jews from them in order to subject them to cruel torture and then kill them. Jordan is now located on the territory of the majestic Nabatea. Petra - the former prosperous capital of the disappeared ancient state. Nowadays it is a unique museum created by nature and human genius.
Lost City
The lost cities of fantasy novels seem to be copied from Petra, a city hidden in the rocks. Who knows, humanity would have known anything about this place if in 1812 the orientalist from Sweden Johann Burckhardt, traveling around the Middle East under the name Ibrahim ibn Abdullah, had not come across an unusually beautiful gorge, walked along it and opened it to humanity ancient city of Petra. Jordan carefully protects its shrine, which is included in the list of wonders of the world. Petra - in Greek means “stone, stone.” The city received this name because at some point in its history it was associated with ancient Hellas. This is evidenced by numerous elements in the architecture of buildings, colonnades and porticos, reminiscent of parts of ancient Greek temples, but with their own details that are not characteristic of the Hellenes. Burckhardt himself lost city was not looking, but was planning to move across the Sahara to the sources of the Niger. This man died on the threshold of his 33rd birthday, having become famous for centuries thanks to his unexpected discovery.
Geographical position
Hot dry climate, the only small area of the Gulf of Aqaba and the Dead Sea and 90% desert plains interspersed with lifeless rocks. That's Jordan. Petra, a unique historical heritage and the pride of the country, cannot boast of blooming gardens. It amazes the imagination with the harsh beauty of silent rocks, rushing their masses tens of meters into the sky. The city is located at an altitude of 660 meters above the Arava Valley and communicates with the world through the narrow Siq gorge. The Arava is a desert plain where there is almost nothing living. In the old days, travelers accompanying camel caravans crossed the Arava, languishing from the heat and lack of water. For them, majestic Petra was like a life-giving mystical oasis, where they could drink plenty of water and relax. The Nabataeans chose one of the most inaccessible places for their capital. You can only get into the city through a narrow canyon from the south or north. According to legend, it happened because Moses hit the rocks with his staff. According to another legend, the Nabateans did not allow the Jews whom Moses led through the desert to pass through their city.
Siq Gorge
Both the crossing of the Arava and the advancement through the gorge are included in the program excursion tour, called "Jordan, Petra, attractions." For those who do not want to tire their legs, enterprising Arabs rent horses, camels, donkeys and even small carriages. Entrance to the gorge is paid. If you didn’t have time to inspect everything in one day, you will have to pay again the next day. The price until recently was 20 dinars (approximately 20 euros). However, the money spent is worth the beauty that you will not see anywhere else in the world. The amazing begins with the first steps along the gorge. It is a narrow winding canyon about one kilometer long. Why not even? The Arabs say because he was crooked. The width of this natural masterpiece is not uniform. In some places the gorge is so narrow that a horse-drawn carriage can barely pass, and in some places it reaches a width of 3 meters. It’s more interesting to walk along it, falling behind the group and being left alone with the rocks, these eternal guardians of the lost city. Their steep, and in some areas bizarrely overhanging slopes rush upward, almost closing overhead. And only a blue stripe of sky prevents you from breaking your connection with the real world. The color of the slopes changes depending on the time of day. It is especially beautiful at dawn and sunset. But even during the day, the multi-colored layers of sandstone that form these monoliths look wonderful.
Al Khazneh
At the exit from the gorge, a wonderful creation of human genius opens to your eyes. This is a mausoleum-temple carved right into the rocks. Petra in Jordan, especially this great building, can delight anyone. Its height is 39 meters and its width is 25. Externally, the facade resembles, however, on the walls there are figures of Amazons, the heads of the Egyptian goddess Isis and the mythological Medusa. Also on the facade you can see figurines of eagles, according to the beliefs of the Nabataeans, carrying away the souls of the dead. That is, several architectural styles were intertwined during construction. El-Khazneh is crowned with an urn, in which, according to legend, the treasures of the pharaohs were placed. That is why the name of the temple arose - “the treasury of the pharaohs.” Inside, the temple consists of three small rooms without any decoration. Just bare walls.
Tombs of Petra
Many researchers are inclined to believe that the pharaohs have nothing to do with El-Khazna, and the building served as the tomb of the rulers of Petra. In front of the temple there is a small round depression with a groove, in which sacrifices may have been made. Blood flowed down the groove. But this detail does not confirm the theory about the tomb 100%. There is nothing inside Al Khazneh that could shed any light on what the structure served. The Nabataeans took this secret with them. What is left to us from the great civilization is the city of Petra. Jordan considers it its main pearl. Even dilapidated by time, the city is grandiose. From Al Khazneh there is a short street of façades leading to other monumental buildings. Some of them were also carved into the rocks, others were built from hewn stone blocks. There are many tombs in the city, but they are all much smaller and more modest than the great Al-Khazneh.
Water supply in the city
The entire Arabian Peninsula is considered a dry region. Jordan is the same. Petra is a city where only 150 mm of precipitation fell per year, which is negligible for the life of 40 thousand inhabitants. However, the Nabateans built a network of canals and reservoirs in the city, in which all the collected water was stored. In addition, the Nabatean irrigation system made it possible to collect water in the area around the city. The townspeople always had plenty of water. There is an assumption that during rare but heavy rainfalls, streams more than a meter deep could rush through the Siq gorge. To prevent such an amount of water from flooding the city, the Nabataeans built something like a dam that diverted the water flow to the side and prevented the water from rushing into the gorge.
Other attractions in Petra
Not only is Petra famous for its unique temple of Al-Khazneh, its beautiful coastline in the Gulf of Aqaba and the many surviving buildings of glorious Petra will forever preserve the memory of visiting this great place on Earth. One of them is the Ad-Deir monastery. It is located just above the main city buildings and is also carved into the rock. The façade of the monastery resembles in its appearance the façade of the Al-Khazneh temple. It is slightly larger in size and reaches a height of 45 meters with a width of 50 meters. There are many steps leading up to it. Perhaps this is why it is not visited as often as Al Khazneh. In addition to the monastery, in the stone city the Tombstone Palace and the Temple are a huge arena that deserve attention. It was created in the likeness of Greek theaters and served, according to historians, for cultic and religious rites.
Jordan. Petra. Tours, hotels, souvenirs
Jordan is a great destination for tourism. Many travel agencies can book tours of various durations and destinations. Those who choose to visit Petra can stay in the suburb of Wadi Musa, located from stone city one and a half kilometers away. There are no hotels in Petra itself. It is open to the public only a few hours a day. There is plenty to choose from in Wadi Musa, with hotels to suit different tastes and budgets. In addition, in the suburbs tourists will find numerous restaurants, shops, bars and even night club. In addition to Wadi Musa, you can stay in central city Petra is about a 3 hour drive from there.
Visiting this historical city, every tourist buys souvenirs as a keepsake. They are sold here literally on every corner. Women's jewelry, ceramics, utensils from Arab craftsmen, and small bottles of colored sand are very popular.
Ancient city Petra is rightfully considered the main attraction of Jordan, glorifying this eastern country all over the globe, and one of the 7 new wonders of the world! In this article, you will learn in detail why this place is so popular with hundreds of thousands of tourists visiting Jordan every year.
Maybe someone remembers the old film about Indiana Jones, in which he was looking for the Grail - there was a huge temple carved into the rock =) It turns out that it was not scenery, but such a miracle really exists - in Petra!
Ancient Nabataean city Petra was founded in these rocks about 4 thousand years ago (according to other sources - 2 millennia), back in the era of the Edomites - then a small but well-defended fortress was built in the rocks. Later, these lands came into the possession of the Nabatean kingdom, which was just at that time experiencing its heyday. Petra, which served as the capital of the kingdom, gradually acquired enormous influence and unprecedented popularity. The emergence of a city in such hard to reach place became possible thanks to the ability of the Nabataeans to control the flow of water, because in essence Petra is nothing more than an artificial oasis! Flash floods are common in this area, and the Nabataeans successfully controlled them using dams, cisterns and aqueducts, which allowed them not only to survive long periods of drought, but also to successfully trade water
In addition to the fact that the Nabateans knew how to skillfully collect water, they also learned how to skillfully process stone. The name “Petra” literally translates as “Rock”, and it is not surprising - after all, the entire ancient city consists entirely of stone!
However, the Nabataean kingdom fell under the onslaught of the Roman emperor Trajan, and then the Roman Empire itself went into oblivion... Since the 16th century AD, only the wind has “walked” here, and then only infrequently. This pearl among the rocks was forgotten for more than 2 centuries - until the moment in 1812, the Swiss traveler-adventurer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt decided to find in these lands a lost city, about which there were many legends, but which, despite this, no one never saw. As a result, the Swiss finally found the legendary lost city, carefully protected by sands and rocks!
All the buildings of Petra were built mainly in three periods: under the Edomites (XVIII-II centuries BC), the Nabataeans (II century BC - 106 BC) and the Romans (106-395 AD). .). In the 12th century, the ancient city was ruled by the crusading knights of the Teutonic Order. Monuments built here after the 6th century AD have practically not reached us. Therefore, the appearance of Petra, which is revealed to the eyes of tourists today, is ancient capital Nabataean kingdom
Interesting fact is that the territory of Petra is currently only 15% studied, so it is possible that soon the mysteries of the ancient city may amaze the whole world! Now imagine that this 15% is about 800 (!) different historical sites on the territory of Petra!
Due to such a huge number of centuries-old attractions, even tickets here are sold for a three-day period - after all, in a day you can only briefly examine all the famous this moment“treasures” of Petra, but even a month is not enough to get acquainted with all its architectural elements in detail!
Petra makes an impression on all tourists who come here - even the most sophisticated ones, and I think this is connected to a greater extent not so much with the ancient city itself, but with the road that leads to it - after all, the city is “hidden” in the very center of the rock! In order to get to Petra, you need to go down into a deep gorge called “Sik” (“Mine”), formed as a result of a prehistoric shift of the earth’s crust, and walk for a long time along a narrow path (in some places only 3-4 meters wide) on at its bottom, between steep 80-meter cliffs, on which here and there there are ancient inscriptions carved in stone and even entire niches carved into the limestone for rest. At some point, it begins to seem that you will have to walk along this gorge forever, but suddenly it ends abruptly and the enormous Treasury of Pharaoh (the Arabic name is El-Khazneh, from which the word “Treasury” later came) opens to your eyes - one of the most famous monuments ancient Petra, in front of which the ant-people froze in surprise...
Gradually, the state of numbness recedes and is replaced by surprise and disbelief that such a huge thing can be carved into the rock. The purpose of Al-Khazneh, carved into the rock around the 2nd century AD, is still unclear, but many historians and archaeologists believe that it was originally a temple to the goddess Isis
In any case, the Treasury is an example of the greatest skill of ancient architects. After all, even today such a structure would be very difficult to create, not to mention how accurate the calculations must be and how it was hollowed out of stone in the first place, if there is not a single tree for scaffolding around for hundreds of kilometers!
It is also surprising that after thousands of years, the facade of the Treasury turned out to be practically untouched - see for yourself!
Monument to the Pyramids at the entrance to the Siq gorge
Before entering Petra you can purchase detailed map city and decide for yourself whether to wander through the most mysterious nooks and crannies in splendid isolation or to hire a guide
Map of the ancient city
The map shows: 1 - Entrance; 2 - Al-Wuheira; 3 - Beginning of the Siq gorge; 4 - “Treasury of the Pharaohs”; 5 - Place of sacrifices; 6 - Theater; 7 - Urn Tomb or “Cathedral”; 8 - Tomb of Sextus Florentinus; 9 - “Nympheum”; 10 - Church; 11 - Temple of Winged Lions; 12 - Great Temple; 13 - Temple of Uzza; 14 - Archaeological Museum; 15 - Lion Triclinium (Roman dining room); 16 - El Deir Monastery
The ancient city extends for several kilometers. From east to west laid the main street, decorated on the sides with a colonnade. At its eastern end there is a three-span Triumphal Arch, and on the west there is a large temple
Early necropolis of the Nabateans
One of the main architectural elements of Petra, along with the Treasury, is an ancient theater for 6000 spectators, entirely carved out of the rock and located so that from there one can see the most important tombs, including the “Cathedral”, the Palace Tomb, the Corinthian Tomb, the Urn Tomb and Silk Tomb
The theater was built in Petra at the beginning of the 1st century AD, almost at the same time with the majestic bulk of the El Deir monastery carved into the rock at the top of the cliff - a huge building about 50 m wide and more than 45 m high, which, judging by the carvings on the walls crosses, for some time served as a Christian church. It may seem familiar to many - most likely this is due to the fact that one of the scenes of the second Transformers film was filmed here =)
Maybe it’s more recognizable this way)
From the slope next to El Deir you can see Mount Jebel Harun with a white mosque on top - this relatively small and modestly decorated tomb of Aaron, the brother of Moses, was erected in the 13th century by the Mamluk Sultan. According to Arabic legends, Petra- exactly the place where Moses struck the stone with his staff and water flowed from it
To the right of the Theater is the entrance to the “Cathedral”. The inscription indicates that Bishop Jason converted the Doric Tomb into a Eucharistic Hall. The same inscription dates this transformation to 447 AD
Plan of the Church of Papyrus in the western part of the city
1 - Atrium; 2 - Baptistery; 3 - Basilica; 4 - Department; 5 - Altar; 6 - Papyrus's Room
View of the church from the altar
In the 90s during excavations. carried out by the American Center for Oriental Research, a vast building was discovered, decorated with beautiful mosaics. A number of administrative records written on papyrus and dating back to the sixth century AD were also discovered. Papyri - part of a private archive including contracts, rentals, exchanges, wills, and various types of agreements. In the photo - a medallion with an image of Neptune
The floors of the nave and chancel are made of multi-colored marble tiles. Both passages are decorated with mosaics. The mosaic style belongs to the Gaza School, which is very different from the school of the Madaba School, mosaic examples of which were found in previous days. The photo shows the atrium of the church. The basilica was divided into three parts by two rows of columns
The Baptistery is located in a room adjacent to the atrium of the Church
Interior of the Temple of the Winged Lions
A Roman inscription from 114 AD on this monumental gate praises Emperor Trajan. The gate leads to the large courtyard of the Temple of Uzza (Qazr al-Bint)
Inner courtyard of the Great Temple of Petra. The floor is made of hexagonal marble slabs
Panoramic view to Qazr al-Bint and Umm al-Biyara peak. The Temple of Uzza was built at the beginning of the 2nd century AD
Arch in the facade of Qazr al-Bint
The Lion Triclinium got its name thanks to the lions “guarding” the entrance
It is also worth paying attention to the monumental tombstone structure in the Roman style, which received the simple name of the Tombstone Palace. One more interesting place is the Archaeological Museum of Petra, which contains the shadow of the history of the development, formation and decline of these lands. In the photo there are a couple of exhibits from the museum - found in Big temple fragment of a capital sculpted in the shape of an elephant and the head of an eagle
Rating: +19 Author of the article: Bender Views: 103677Today I will tell you about the main attraction of Jordan - the ancient city of Petra. It is located in the territory of modern Jordan, at an altitude of more than 900 m above sea level and 660 m above the surrounding area, the Arava Valley, in the narrow Siq canyon. The passage to the valley is through gorges located in the north and south, while from the east and west the rocks drop vertically, forming natural walls up to 60 m in height. In 2007, Petra was chosen as one of the new Seven Wonders of the World.
Petra was located at the crossroads of two important trade routes: one connecting the Red Sea with Damascus, the other connecting the Persian Gulf with Gaza off the coast Mediterranean Sea. Departing from Persian Gulf caravans loaded with precious spices had to bravely endure the harsh conditions of the Arabian desert for weeks until they reached the coolness of the narrow Siq canyon, leading to the long-awaited Petra. There travelers found food, shelter and cool, life-giving water.
For hundreds of years, trade brought great wealth to Petra. But when the Romans discovered sea routes to the East, the land trade in spices came to naught and Petra gradually became empty, lost in the sands. Many buildings of Petra were erected in different eras and under different owners of the city, including the Edomites (18-2 centuries BC), Nabataeans (2nd century BC - 106 AD), Romans (106-395 AD), Byzantines and Arabs. In the 12th century AD. e. it was owned by the crusaders.
The first of the modern Europeans to see and describe Petra was the Swiss Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who was traveling incognito. Next to the ancient theater you can see a building from the Edomite or Nabataean era. Monuments built after the 6th century AD. e. practically not, because in that era the city had already lost its significance.
01. Now Petra is visited annually by about half a million tourists. Admission for a day is approximately 55 euros, for 60 euros you can buy a ticket for 2 days. View of the road to Petra. 
02. The gorge begins from here. There is a main road - flat, quite wide, almost all tourists get to Petra along it. But you can turn off and take the unimproved road. To do this, turn right at the post into the tunnel. Walking there is quite difficult, but you can feel like you are in the shoes of the Swiss traveler Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, who discovered Petra in 1812. 
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05. This is what the main road looks like. Before entering, they will actively push you to get a horse to get to the city, don’t agree, the road there is very easy. But you can return back by cart. This pleasure costs 20 euros, you cannot bargain, since the tariff is official. 
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09. Using terracotta pipes, the architects of Petra created a complex water supply system and despite the arid climate, the city's residents never needed water. There were about 200 reservoirs throughout the city that collected and stored rainwater. In addition to connecting the reservoirs, terracotta pipes collected water from all sources within a radius of 25 kilometers. Annual rainfall in Petra is only about 15 centimeters. To save water, local residents they cut down canals and reservoirs right in the rocks. 
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11. As tourists walk along the cool kilometer-long Siq canyon, around the bend they discover the Treasury - a majestic building with a facade carved from a huge rock. It is one of the best preserved structures from the first century. 
12. The building is crowned by a huge urn made of stone, in which gold and precious stones were supposedly kept - hence the name “Treasury”. The official name of this structure is El Khazneh. The architects planned the construction of this temple in the former riverbed. For its construction, the river bed was changed, a grandiose project for that time. A tunnel was cut into the rock to divert the flow of water and a series of dams were built. 
13. According to the popular etymological version, the word “Treasury” subsequently came from the word “El-Khazneh”. In fact, there is no direct connection between these words. El-Khazneh literally means "storehouse" from khazan - to store, store. The Russian word “treasury” goes back to the same Arabic word, but was directly borrowed in the 12th-14th centuries from the Polovtsian language. Famous cat. 
14. A few more photos of local cats, but I don’t like them so much))) 
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18. The canyon gradually expands, and tourists find themselves in a natural amphitheater, in the sandstone walls of which there are many caves. But the main thing that catches your eye is the crypts carved into the rocks. The colonnade and amphitheater testify to the presence of the Romans in the city in the first and second centuries. 
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20. The name itself is “Petra”, which means “rock”. And Petra, indeed, was a city of stone; there was no such thing in the Roman Empire. The Nabateans, who built the city, patiently carved houses, crypts and temples from stone blocks. Petra is nestled among red sandstones that lend themselves well to building, and by the first century AD a monumental city had grown up in the heart of the desert. 
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30. The final point of the route is the Ed-Deir monastery. To get to it you need to climb the mountain for quite a long time, but you can take a donkey for 5 euros and walk back down. 
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38. Ed-Deir, a monastery carved into the rock at the top of a cliff - a huge building about 50 m wide and more than 45 m high. Judging by the crosses carved on the walls, the temple served as a Christian church for some time. 
39. Not far from the monastery there are observation decks, here you can admire the view of the valley. 
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42. All the viewpoints have been taken over by Bedouins who will extort money from you. 
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45. Be prepared for a large number small extortionists and souvenir dealers. There is not much to buy there; prices in Petra are approximately 2 times higher. 
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49. Some tourists try to save money and sneak in mountain paths without a ticket. For them, guards were posted at the far approaches to check tickets and chase away violators. 
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54. And this is what an alternative gorge looks like, along which you can get to Petra. It’s very beautiful, although it takes a lot longer to walk, but it’s worth it. 
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58. The entrance to Petra is open from 6 am to 5 pm. Sometimes the city opens at night, you need to buy additional ticket. The entire road to the Treasury is decorated with paper lanterns. 
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60. A small performance takes place in the square near the Treasury itself. 
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64. View of Petra from the neighboring mountain. 
