Description of the attraction
Petra is a unique monument of history and culture - an impregnable fortress city, capital or necropolis (there is still no consensus) of the ancient state of the Nabateans. Founded more than 4 thousand years ago, Petra is located in a mountainous area near the Wadi Musa valley, and is connected to the outside world only by the narrow kilometer-long Es-Sik gorge, over which cliffs hang, almost closing at an altitude of more than 90 m. Numerous (more than 800!) monumental temples and tombs, tombs and festive halls, water channels and reservoirs, baths, places of worship, shops, public buildings and cobbled streets, an amphitheater that can accommodate 8, 5 thousand spectators - all this is carved into the rocks of an unusual pink color. The most interesting are Al-Khazna ("Treasury", the tomb of one of the Nabatean kings), Ad-Deir ("Monastery"), Sahrij ("Djinn blocks"), "Obelisk tomb", "Facade square", the sacred mountain Jebel Al-Madbah ("Mountain of Sacrifices"), "Tombs of the Kings", Mugar An-Nasara ("Caves of Christians"), Theater, Byzantine church behind the ruins of Nymphaeum, Al-Uzzy Atargatis ("Temple of the Winged Lions"), Qasr Al-Bint ("Palace Pharaoh's daughter ", although the pharaohs, naturally, have nothing to do with this structure)," Tomb of the legionnaires ", etc.
There are 2 Archaeological museums in the city - an old one (in Jebel Al-Habis mountain) and a new one, with excellent collections, as well as many monuments identified with biblical chronicles - the Wadi Musa Valley itself ("Valley of Moses"), Jebel Garun Mountain (Mount Aaron, where, according to legend, the high priest Aaron died), the source of Ain Musa ("Source of Moses"), etc. The city is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List
Another undoubted value of the Jordanian land is the numerous castles of the era of the Crusades, scattered in abundance throughout the country. In the Middle Ages, a single chain of fortifications encircled almost the entire country, and a fairly large number of castles have survived in excellent condition.
