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The ancient city of Petra is one of Jordan's national
treasures and by far its best known tourist attraction,
hidden behind an almost impenetrable barrier of rugged
mountains, boasting incomparable scenes that make it the
most majestic and imposing ancient site still-standing
nowadays. Located approximately three
 hours south of
Amman, Petra is the legacy of the Nabataens, an
industrious Arab people who settled in southern Jordan
more than 2000 years ago. Admired then for its refined
culture, massive architecture and ingenious complex of
dams and water channels, Petra is now a UNESCO world
heritage site that enchants visitors from all corners of
the globe. Much of Petra's appeal comes from its
spectacular setting deep inside a narrow desert gorge.
The site is accessed by walking through a kilometer long
chasm (or siq), the walls of which soar 200 meters
upwards.
It has been said "perhaps there is nothing in the world
that resembles it", actually, for sure, there is nothing
in the world that resembles it. The rock-carved rose-red
city of Petra is full of mysterious charm, it was
"designed to strike wonder into all who entered it".
For seven
 centuries, Petra fell into the mists of
legend, its existence a guarded secret known only to the
local Bedouins and Arab tradesmen. Finally, in 1812, a
young Swiss explorer and convert to Islam named Johann
Ludwig Burckhardt heard locals speaking of a "lost city"
hidden in the mountains of Wadi Mousa. In order to find
the site without arousing local suspicions, Burckhardt
disguised himself as a pilgrim seeking to make a
sacrifice at the tomb of Aaron, a mission which would
provide him a glimpse of the legendary city. He managed
to bluff his way through successfully, and the secret of
Petra was revealed to the modern Western world.
The approach through a kilometer long, cool, and gloom
chasm (or Siq) a long narrow gorge whose steeply rising
sides all but obliterate the sun, provides a dramatic
contrast with the magic to come. Suddenly the gorge
opens into a natural square dominated by Petra's most
famous monument, The Treasury (El-Khazneh), whose
intricately carved facade glows in the dazzling sun.
More facades beckon the visitor on until the ancient
city gradually unfolds, one monument leading to the next
for kilometer after kilometer. The sheer size of the
city and the quality of beautifully carved facades is
staggering and leads one to reflect on the creativity
and industry of the Nabataeans who made Petra their
capital.
The Petra basin boasts over 800 individual monuments,
including buildings, tombs, baths, funerary halls,
temples, arched gateways, and colonnaded streets, that
were mostly carved from the kaleidoscopic sandstone by
the technical and artistic genius of its inhabitants. |
