Hidden deep within the rugged mountains of southern Jordan, the ancient city of Petra is a breathtaking wonder carved directly into rose coloured cliffs by a clever people more than two thousand years ago

Hidden away deep within the rugged and rocky mountains of southern Jordan, far out in the sun baked desert, lies one of the most breathtaking and unforgettable ancient sites to be found anywhere on the entire planet. It is the lost city of Petra, a truly astonishing place where magnificent buildings have been carved directly into the very face of towering cliffs of rose coloured stone, more than two thousand long years ago.

A city carved from stone

What makes the ancient city of Petra so utterly unique and so completely different from almost any other ruin in the world is the truly remarkable way in which it was actually built by its original creators. Rather than stacking up heavy blocks of stone to raise walls and towers in the usual manner, the people who made Petra instead chose to carve their grand buildings straight into the solid living rock of the surrounding mountains.

Because of this quite extraordinary method of construction, the whole city seems almost to grow naturally straight out of the very cliffs that cradle and surround it on every single side. Scattered throughout the vast site are more than six hundred separate facades, temples and tombs, all patiently chiselled by hand out of the beautiful sandstone, whose warm pinkish colour has earned Petra its lovely and fitting nickname, the Rose City.

The clever people of the desert

The astonishing city of Petra was built very long ago by an ancient desert people known to history as the Nabataeans, who were among the very cleverest and most successful traders of their entire age. From their well hidden mountain stronghold, these highly skilful merchants controlled the busy trade routes along which precious goods such as fragrant incense, exotic spices and fine silks travelled all across the ancient world.

Perhaps their most impressive achievement of all was the truly ingenious way in which they managed to bring life giving water to their great city in the very middle of a harsh and unforgiving desert. With remarkable cleverness, the Nabataeans carved countless narrow channels into the rock to gather every single precious drop of rainwater, and they built sturdy dams and reservoirs to store it carefully for the long and dry summer months.

Through the winding gorge

One of the most thrilling and dramatic parts of any visit to Petra is the very journey that a traveller must first undertake in order to reach the well hidden heart of the ancient city. The only way in leads through a long, narrow and endlessly winding gorge known as the Siq, a spectacular natural passage where towering walls of solid rock rise up steeply on either side, almost completely blocking out the sky far above.

Walking slowly through this shadowy and deeply mysterious corridor of stone, with the high cliffs pressing in close on both sides, fills every single visitor with a steadily growing sense of wonder and eager anticipation. The narrow winding path twists and turns for a good long distance, keeping its greatest secret carefully hidden away, until suddenly, through one final narrow gap in the rock, a truly unforgettable sight is at last revealed.

The famous Treasury

Emerging at last from the deep darkness of the gorge, the astonished visitor is met by the single most famous and most breathtaking monument in all of Petra, the magnificent building that is known to everyone as the Treasury. This enormous and beautifully detailed facade, carved directly into the pink cliff, rises to a towering height of nearly forty metres and is richly decorated with elegant columns, delicate carvings and ancient statues.

Despite its rather grand and mysterious name, this splendid structure was almost certainly not ever used as a treasury to store away gold and jewels at all, as so many people once firmly believed. According to the most likely explanation carefully offered by historians today, this magnificent carved building actually served instead as the grand and elaborate tomb of an important Nabataean king, a fitting resting place carved for eternity.

A city lost and found

For many long centuries after the ancient Nabataeans had finally gone, their remarkable rock carved city gradually slipped away from the memory of the wider world and became little more than a distant and half forgotten legend. While the local desert tribes had always known perfectly well of its existence and lived quietly among its ruins, to the faraway people of Europe the fabled city had become almost a myth that very few still believed in.

Then, in the year eighteen hundred and twelve, a curious and remarkably adventurous Swiss traveller managed at long last to rediscover the hidden city for the outside world. Carefully disguising himself so that he might be allowed to approach unnoticed, he cleverly persuaded a local guide to lead him through the winding gorge, and in doing so he brought the astonishing wonders of Petra back to the amazed attention of the whole world.

A wonder of the world today

In the many years and centuries that have followed that famous rediscovery, the ancient city of Petra has slowly grown to become one of the most admired and most visited historical treasures to be found anywhere on earth. In recognition of its truly outstanding beauty and its immense historical importance, it was very proudly named a World Heritage site, and later on it was also chosen as one of the celebrated new wonders of the entire world.

Today, great crowds of eager travellers from every single corner of the globe make the long journey to Jordan each and every year, all longing to walk through the winding Siq and gaze up in wonder at the rose coloured Treasury with their very own eyes. Standing quietly before these ancient stones, it is quite impossible not to marvel at the great skill, the bold vision and the sheer determination of the remarkable people who once carved this unforgettable city from the mountains.