Of all the ancient cities in the world, few amaze and delight as much as Petra.

Located between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea, in Jordan, 200 km south of Amman, the capital. Petra, the Nabatean, is located in a valley in the mountainous area of Edom. It is the major tourist site of the region.

The first traces of habitation date back eleven thousand years. But the real boom began when a tribe of Arab nomads, the Nabataeans, settled on the site around the fifth century AD. They prospered thanks to the caravan trade routes that passed through there. Incense, myrrh, Chinese silk, spices, cotton, etc. allowed the Nabateans to build a majestic city with grandiose architecture and lush gardens. It is all the more grandiose when you realize that there are very few buildings in Petra. The monuments were “extracted” from the rock!

The city gradually “died out” when the trade routes changed their route. Abandoned after a devastating earthquake in 749 and then forgotten for centuries, it was Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, Swiss explorer and adventurer who rediscovered Petra in 1812.

2022. The discovery of the site remains a wonder. After crossing the Siq, a kind of canyon of one thousand five hundred meters long, the visitor discovers the “Khazneh”, the most famous monument of Petra. The discovery of the site really starts here. And it’s so huge that the administration has scheduled three-day passes…

The images are divided into categories corresponding to the different places of visit. To find them, click here.

The literature around Petra is very abundant. Wikipedia is a good place to start researching.

Tarek Charara