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"Match
me such a marvel save in Eastern clime, a rose-red city half as old as time." Dean Burgon Petra, a historic and archeological city in Jordan, lies on the slope of Mount Hor
in a basin among the mountains, with its rock cut architecture and water conduits
system Established
sometime around the 6th Century BC as the capital city of the Nabateans. Being
the centre of their caravan trade. Enclosed by towering rocks and watered by a
perennial stream, Petra not only possessed the
advantages of a fortress, but controlled the main commercial routes which
passed through it to Gaza in the west, to Bosra
and Damascus in the north, to Aqaba and Leuce
Come on the Red Sea, and across the desert to the Persian
Gulf. However,
the site remained unknown to the Western World until 1812, when it was
introduced by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. This city
has a lot to tell. After passing some tombs, which are located outside the
city, the visitor passes through the SIQ, an immense crack in the Nubian sandstone.
It is a winding, one-kilometer-long fissure between overhanging cliffs that
seem to meet more than 300 feet overhead. Near the end of the passage, the SIQ,
with great style, makes one last turn and out of the gloom in towering
brightness appears Petra's most impressive monument, el Khazneh "The
Treasury". This is one of the most elegant remains of antiquity, carved
out of the solid rock from the side of the mountain, is nearly 140 feet high
and 90 feet wide. Beyond el
Khazneh the visitor is surrounded on both sides by hundreds of Petra's carved
and built structures, soaring temples, elaborate royal tombs, a carved Roman
theater, large and small houses, burial chambers and much more. - Petra is a symbol of Jordan,
on top its most visited tourism
attraction
- One of the most precious
cultural properties of man's cultural heritage, as described by UNESCO
- A World Heritage Site since 1985
- In 2007, Petra was announced One of the New
Seven Wonders of the World
- Chosen by the BBC as
one of "the 40 Places you have to see before you die"
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