Petra

The rose city carved into rock

Petra is a city carved into cliffs! Its buildings weren't built but cut into pink rock from the top down. You can only enter through a narrow gorge — walls 80 metres high and only 3 metres apart. At the end of the gorge the 'Treasury' suddenly appears — a building 40 metres tall. The Nabataeans built Petra 2,000 years ago; they were masters at collecting water in the desert.

Petra was the capital of the Nabataean kingdom (4th century BC – AD 106), set in sandstone gorges in southern Jordan. It grew rich on caravan trade (spices, incense); its water system — 200 cisterns, channels and dams — fed 30,000 people in the desert. Al-Khazneh ('the Treasury', 40 m) and Ad-Deir ('the Monastery', 47 m) are rock-cut façades blending Greco-Roman and Eastern styles, carved from the top down. It has more than 800 monuments. It declined after the earthquake of 363 and shifting trade routes; in 1812 the Swiss explorer Burckhardt 'rediscovered' it for the West. It featured in 'Indiana Jones'. A UNESCO site (1985) and one of the New Seven Wonders.

Fun facts

• Petra's buildings were carved from the top down — starting with the roof!
• The 'Treasury' is actually a tomb — there's no treasure inside, but the name stuck.
• The Nabataeans collected rainwater in the desert to feed a city of 30,000.