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NARRATOR: In the Jordanian desert,

an incredible ancient treasure
still stands,

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the monumental city of Petra.

Built over 2,000 years ago
by the ancient Nabatean civilization,

Petra's construction is colossal,

with monuments, tombs, and temples
carved into the sides of cliffs.

DAVID GRAF: The nature of Petra
as a rock-carved city is really unique.

There are not other places
with this many tombs,

and this kind of architecture.

NARRATOR:
To sustain this ancient desert city,

its engineers built a water supply system

with channels and pipelines that
transformed Petra into a desert oasis...

filled with lush gardens,
a pool, and a thermal spa.

THOMAS R. PARADISE: You just didn't have
water that was available during seasons;

you had water available all year.

NARRATOR: Even today, the achievements

of Petra's engineers are astounding.

They made a region of harsh,
arid mountains

into a prosperous city
of over 20,000 people,

and an ancient trading capital.

THIBAUD FOURNET (in French):
What's fascinating

about the culture of the Nabateans is that

in less than two centuries,
they built an exceptional city.

A blend of extreme luxury and exuberance

that makes Petra so wonderful.

NARRATOR: Now, experts take us
behind the scenes

to finally see how this ancient culture

carved cliffside monuments
that still stand today.

Discover how this forbidding landscape

became the amazing city
of Petra.

The ancient city of Petra
stands a 200-kilometer journey

south from Jordan's capital, Amman.

Halfway between the Red Sea
and the Dead Sea,

Petra is strategically located in a valley
at the end of a narrow canyon.

It's an astounding sight,

with monuments carved
into the rock face on all sides.

Built over 2,000 years ago,

the ancient people who constructed
the city were known as the Nabateans.

But why did these nomadic merchants

build their city
in a remote desert canyon?

PARADISE:
Petra was the perfect crossroads;

it was a nexus of commerce.

So, you have north-south trade

that involved frankincense and myrrh,

and then turquoise and peridot,
and gemstones coming from the south.

Then you have the east-west trade
coming through, which is now Kuwait,

that would've brought silk
and Chinese goods in from the east.

So, there's no coincidence that Petra
was the perfect location to build a city,

and a city that would boom
within hundreds of years

to thousands of inhabitants.

NARRATOR: In addition to its location
at the nexus of valuable trade routes,

Petra also had other advantages.

Its steep hillsides provided
a natural defense against invaders.

The city's builders constructed
control towers at its highest points

to secure the area.

The entry point for the city
passed through a narrow gorge

formed by erosion, called the Siq.

Petra stood at the junction of multiple
dry stream valleys, called wadis,

which the Nabateans used to direct
rain flow and spring water to the city.

You're in a desert, water is scarce,

and what you find is a large basin,

where water drains from
a couple of directions.

So the original inhabitants of Petra

understood that where water converges

is probably the most important thing
to look for for a desert city.

It's not a coincidence.
It's not an arbitrary location.

It's the perfect location,
where you have water and then trade,

commerce, a flat valley
that would be ideal for a city center.

Petra is the best location
within one or 200 miles easily,

if not 1,000 miles, to build a city.

NARRATOR: The Nabateans built
their hidden city in just 200 years.

The entry point through
the Siq led to a vast plain

that became the city center,

home to 20,000 to 30,000 people
in the first century AD.

Nearly 3,000 monuments
and buildings decorated the city

and its surrounding cliffsides.

The six-square kilometer city became
the capital of the Nabatean kingdom.

These master architects
built the lavish Khazneh, or treasury,

near the entrance to the city.

The structure is decorated with details

that show the influence
of Greek and Egyptian architecture.

High columns are topped with
ornate Corinthian capitals...

and the entrance is flanked by statues

of the Greek mythological figures
Castor and Pollux.

The second level features a tholos,

a circular Greek structure,

surrounded by sculptures of
Egyptian and Greek deities

worn down by 2,000 years of erosion.

At the top, a massive urn
stands 3.5 meters high.

Inside lies a vast hall,
opening onto three large rooms.

But unlike the exterior,
the inside of the structure is plain,

with the walls left completely bare.

GRAF: The function of the Khazneh
remains a... a puzzling question.

And it has been speculated
that it was a tomb

for one of the Nabatean kings.

Possibly, it was a tomb
for the great Nabatean king

Aretas IV.

But this is only guesswork.

Uh, we really don't know
who was buried there,

and there are no inscriptions
at any of the tombs

to give us some idea
of who this tomb represents.

NARRATOR: The Khazneh
was carved out of a sandstone cliff

that stands 80 meters high.

For workers to carve out
this massive structure,

Petra's architects had to rethink
their usual building methods.

A typical bottom-to-top
plan would be impossible

when carving from a cliff.

JEAN-CLAUDE BESSAC (in French):
Had they started from the bottom,

it would've been impossible for them
to know where to begin

so that the wall would be plumb,

because the cliffsides are
not always perpendicular.

They can be slightly slanted,
and that's very difficult to calculate.

There's another big problem
that comes with

chipping away from above yourself,
and that's namely the risk of debris

falling on the laborers below.

NARRATOR: So, they carved the Khazneh
from top to bottom.

But the structure's sides
soar nearly 40 meters high.

How did the workers get to the top
to even start carving?

Scaffolding makes sense,
but in the desert, wood was scarce.

PARADISE:
If we look at the pollen record in Petra,

we notice that trees were not much more
abundant than they are today.

And the trees that did exist in the area
are similar to trees we see today:

Juniper and Oak.

The climate hasn't changed enough
to change the variety of trees.

So trees did grow then,
but they grew sparsely.

They were not common at all.

So the use of scaffolding

would have been a very, very rare luxury
for the Nabateans to have.

NARRATOR:
Without wood to build scaffolding,

Petra's architects got creative,

and their methods are still
visible on the mountain today.

HANI FALAHAT (in Arabic):
When the Nabateans decided

to build the facade of the Khazneh,

they had to prepare the area so
they could reach the mountaintop

before even beginning construction.

And then they sculpted it
from the top down.

To do that, they build a staircase.
And they built it wide enough

to allow the workers to
comfortably go up and down

even while carrying their tools.

There was a bridge over there
that allowed them to get from

the staircase to the
front on the other side.

They went around the back of the
mountain in order to get to the summit,

and then they carved out
the top of the Khazneh.

NARRATOR: After climbing
the first part of the staircase,

visitors reach a huge cave.

A shelter carved out by workers
at the start of construction.

FALAHAT (in Arabic): This cave was where
the laborers who were assigned the

construction of the Khazneh
stored the tools they needed.

They would meet here
at the beginning of the day,

then they would take the bridge
to go around the mountain

and then they'd begin sculpting the rock.

NARRATOR: Even the preparation
for the monument was impressive,

but it was all to set the stage
for the construction to come.

Experts say the ancient architects
used certain methods

to carve the Khazneh
straight out of the rock.

The first step was to carve
a ledge in the cliffside.

Then, the workers could use the ledge
to access the face of the rock

and began carving the
gigantic urn at the top.

Next, they dug two vertical
trenches on either side.

Then the ledge was carved further,

and another section of the Khazneh
began to take shape.

A series of indentations
likely served as ladders,

so workers could reach
the different levels of the structure.

They continued this process
until they finally reached the bottom.

There was no room for mistakes.

Once they completed a level,
they couldn't reach it again later.

The smallest mistake
would stay carved into the rock

for thousands of years.

The remnants of the vertical trenches
and enclaves are still visible today.

Reminders of this massive undertaking
by Petra's ancient architects.

Experts believe the builders
finished the job in less than four years.

Two kilometers from here,

another one of the city's monuments
was also carved

entirely from the rock.

It's called Ad Deir.

It's not an easy place to reach.

Through a narrow path
and up over 800 stone steps,

the colossal structure
towers over the city below.

The exterior of Ad Deir is less ornate

and more abstract than
the Khazneh's figurative decoration,

but both structures feature
imposing columns

supporting two levels
of pediments and a tholos.

Ad Deir also features a ten meter high urn
at the top of its tholos.

GRAF: During the Christian period,

it was developed into a monastery.

But in the earlier period,

its purpose seems to have been
originally a tomb.

Uh, who was buried there, and when,
is a matter of speculation again,

but it is one of the most
magnificent tombs at Petra,

along with the Khazneh.

NARRATOR:
At first, it seems Ad Deir was built

the same way as the Khazneh,

since both monuments were carved
entirely from the rock.

But the cliffs are less steep
than the Khazneh.

The sides of the rock around Ad Deir
slope more gently toward the ground,

so workers could use different methods
to carve this structure.

Getting started was also
relatively easier.

Workers could climb the slope to the top,

making the carving of the urn
a much simpler task.

Building the rest of the structure
took two stages.

The first was to create a giant
set of steps across the face of the rock,

eliminating the excess rock
so the vertical facade could take shape.

Then, workers carved Ad Deir step by step

from top to bottom.

To the untrained eye,

the sculpture work on Ad Deir
may seem almost crude.

The columns and their capitals
are simple and abstract,

and the pediments are sparely decorated.

But the structure's simplicity
belies a superior level of mastery.

BESSAC (in French):
Contrary to what most people think,

it's easier to make a capital

that's decorated with something like
acanthus leaves, or any ornate capital,

because that gives you
something to work around.

In case you make any
mistakes while carving it out,

you can always slightly
change the shape of a leaf

so that it hides your
mistake and no one sees it.

However, with clean, straight lines,
the slightest error becomes visible.

That means you have to be much

more careful and rigorous in your work.

In other words, there's
absolutely no room for error.

NARRATOR: Ad Deir's smooth
columns and refined lines

are the result of incredible skill.

Even more impressive,

they were all carved out of
the mountain in one piece.

When a structure is made of stone blocks
assembled together,

carvers can choose them individually
before beginning their work.

Not possible here.

The sculptors worked up
against the rocky wall,

digging centimeter by centimeter.

Every step had to be perfect.

BESSAC (in French):
If workers broke something by mistake,

if the stone had a weak spot,

or if any part of the cornice
or the capital broke off,

well, that was it,

it's not like you could just
replace the piece in question.

The slightest error was fatal to the
entire project and was irreparable.

NARRATOR: The lost city of Petra is home

to over 2,700 monuments and structures
carved from the rock.

Millions of years of erosion
shaped the landscape

before it was sculpted by human tools,

revealing the many layers of sandstone
in all their colors.

GRAF: The nature of Petra as a
rock-carved city is really unique.

Uh, there are not other places
with this many tombs,

and this kind of architecture.

The number of these rock-carved,
uh, areas is unparalleled

anywhere in the Mediterranean world.

Petra is, is, uh, unique.
Exceptional in this regard.

NARRATOR: In addition to
the rock-carved monuments,

the city also housed
many more stone structures

built using traditional
construction methods.

The sandstone used to build
the freestanding structures

came from nearby construction sites.

When carving their cliffside monuments,

workers shaped and reused
the large amounts of stone

removed from the mountains.

Many of the more traditional buildings
have been destroyed

or buried in the sand after 2,000 years.

The number of buildings
Petra once contained

remains unknown,

but experts say they were more than just
the leftover stone extracted

from cliffside constructions.

The builders also drew
from sources outside Petra.

Archaeological excavations have found
14 stone quarries around the city,

where workers extracted
thousands of cubic meters

of multicolored sandstone.

Southeast of the city,
at the summit of Jebel al-Madhbah,

lies one of the biggest stone quarries.

The extraction of huge stone blocks,

weighing hundreds of kilos,
would have taken years.

The workers' only tools
were a pick, a mallet,

and an iron wedge.

Two stone obelisks,

each almost seven meters high,

are all that remain
to show the rock's original height.

HANI M.K. AL-NAWAFLEH: These columns
left behind are sign and witness, uh,

about the, uh, volume of the rock

that were extracted from
this particular quarry,

which counts for at least

tens of thousands of cubic meters.

NARRATOR: Petra's most impressive
stone quarry is at Wadi As-Siyagh.

Here, workers dug out the floor
to extract almost 30 meters of rock.

But at the bottom,

they discovered sandstone
of much higher quality.

So they dug further,
directly into the bottom of the cliff,

carving out an opening
over eight meters long.

AL-NAWAFLEH:
This kind of sand is quite hard,

so it is more resistant than the others.

It is characterized by its
yellowish-brown color.

So, huge amounts of rocks

were excavated from this quarry.

It is estimated that
the quantities of the rock,

which is extracted from this quarry alone,

more than 31,000 meter cube.

NARRATOR: Even after removing
the blocks of sandstone from the mountain,

the workers still had to
move them to the city.

How they did that remains a mystery.

LAURENT THOLBECQ (in French):
It's quite rare to find traces

of how the rocks were transported.

You have to keep in mind that
these quarries have been exposed

to the elements without an
interruption for 2,000 years,

so many of the stones have
been significantly eroded.

Any traces potentially left
behind by rock movement

have completely disappeared
or have been covered up

by later construction,
debris, or even by soil.

That's what 2,000 years will do.

NARRATOR:
That hasn't stopped archaeologists

from offering theories
based on local topography.

PARADISE: The quarries are all found
above the valley.

They're not at the lower
portion of the valley.

So the quarries where the rock was removed

to use for construction in Petra

are all found either at
the same level or above.

So simple roller tools

could've been used to haul the rock down.

NARRATOR: The workers probably used
simple wooden rollers to move the stone.

Logs would have been placed on top
of two larger parallel tree trunks.

The stone blocks could then be
rolled down the slope to the city.

One of the most impressive monuments
built using sandstone blocks

mined from the quarries
is the Great Temple.

The enormous building
stretches to 7,000 square meters.

Despite its name,
it was probably not used as a temple,

but as a central administrative building,

or as the public section
of the royal palace.

The massive entrance porch
leads to a series of rooms

and hallways surrounded by columns.

Was this a courtroom?

Or an assembly area?

Its intended purpose
has been lost to time.

Now, only ruins remain of
this once imposing building.

But its massive stone blocks
raise another archaeological mystery.

How did the builders raise these stones

35 meters into the air
without scaffolding?

Petra's architects left no written record.

But the methods used by the Romans

and other civilizations
provide a few theories.

THOLBECQ (in French):
There are a few machines

that were made out of wood

and that would make it
possible to lift big stones.

The most commonly-used machines
were what we call lifting jacks.

The idea is to have two beams attached
together using cables,

and then raise the stone off a pulley.

Using the swinging motion of the machine,

they could get the stone
closer to the wall.

NARRATOR: Another type of lifting device
is called a derrick.

Made up of a single large wooden beam,

it is placed in a hole in the ground
to anchor it.

On the other end, pulleys are connected
to two cords attached to the ground,

and a third cord tied around the rock.

Using a pendulum-like movement,

the rock can be lifted and positioned

anywhere in the construction site.

BESSAC (in French): Derricks are
more practical than lifting jacks.

The latter can only move in
one direction and they don't turn.

Using a derrick, it's easy to
pick up a block on one side, turn it,

and set it down on a structure.

I personally think they used derricks.

NARRATOR: Using these ancient tools,

the builders probably spent years
constructing the Great Temple.

Some estimate that all of Petra must have
taken at least 200 years to build.

On top of everything else,

ancient Nabatean architects faced
one more natural obstacle around Petra.

A 1,200 kilometer fault line marks
where two tectonic plates meet,

the Arabian plate and the Sinai subplate.

The seismic risk is very high
along this fault line.

Several earthquakes have struck Petra
through the years,

leading to the destruction of structures

not built into the surrounding cliffsides.

Except for one, Qasr al-Bint.

In Bedouin Arabic, the name means
"The Palace of the Pharaoh's Daughter,"

but it was also thought to be
the city's largest place of worship.

FALAHAT (in Arabic):
The Temple of Qasr al-Bint

was one of the three temples

in the center of Petra.

Construction of this temple began
in the early first century BC and finished

in the first century AD,

during the time of
King Aretas IV Philopatris.

This temple was built for
the purpose of honoring

and worshiping the god Dushara,

the most popular god of the
Nabatean Arabs in Petra.

NARRATOR:
This temple was no ordinary construction.

It was built to withstand nature itself.

The Temple of Qasr al-Bint
is a perfect square.

So, in an earthquake,

pressure hits evenly across
all four sides of the monument,

reducing the overall impact.

To further protect their place of worship,

the Nabatean builders also used
another strategy,

traces of which are still visible
on the temple walls.

These horizontal grooves are actually
the remains of ancient wooden beams.

When building the temple's
load-bearing walls,

the architects added cedar beams
at various levels.

Connecting to each other,

the beams served as reinforcement
throughout the structure.

Since wood is more flexible than stone,

the beams could help absorb
part of the pressure of an earthquake.

FALAHAT (in Arabic): Seismic waves
propagate from bottom to top,

but when they come into contact with
wooden planks, they disperse horizontally.

If the seismic wave continues to grow,

then it hits the other
wooden planks higher up.

They also disperse the
energy and ultimately

minimize the impact on
the upper part of the building.

This technique has helped the temple

to remain standing in spite of its size.

It's the only monument built this way

and the only one still standing

despite the multitude of earthquakes
that have struck this region.

NARRATOR: These unusual techniques
allowed Qasr al-Bint to remain standing

for 2,000 years in the
heart of the ancient city.

Earthquakes weren't the only challenge
Petra's builders faced.

To survive, the desert city also needed
to carefully manage its water supply.

The average rainfall is about
15 centimeters a year here.

When the rain finally falls
between December and March,

it can lead to devastating flash floods.

The city's architects had
to capture any rainfall they could,

so they could supply the population
with water throughout the year,

while also protecting themselves
from flash flooding.

The walls of the Siq,

the narrow gorge marking
the entrance to Petra,

hold clues to how the ancient builders
controlled the flow of water.

QAIS TWEISSI: This carving channel
came all the way from

the entrance of the Siq
till the Treasury facade,

which is about 12,200 meter.

NARRATOR: The Siq is marked by
channels in the cliffsides,

and more sophisticated systems.

Clay pipes actually built into the cliffs,

assembled in sections
connected by waterproof coating.

Their diameter allowed for
natural pressure within the pipes.

This meant the water could naturally flow
toward the city center unobstructed,

and even go up gentle slopes.

Further north of the city,

another site reveals the complexity

of this ancient city's infrastructure.

These were once Petra's
water purification reservoirs.

TWEISSI:
If you look to the edge of the cliff,

you can see a curving channel,

which is mostly destroyed.

The idea of this channel is to collect
water from the top of the cliff,

and then firstly feed that big basin here,

which we can call it
as the collection basin,

and the main use
for this basin is to let silt

settle down for a while, and in this case,

they can be sure the water
is getting somehow filtered,

and out of dirt.

And after that, when they are sure that

some of the water is
getting filtered and is good,

through a small valve in this wall
between the two basins,

the water go to this next small basin,

and is kept for the next step,

which is going again through this dam here

and another small valve in the dam,

and then through more cisterns,

water channels and pipes

to feed the rest of many

water cisterns in this area.

NARRATOR: Passing through multiple basins,

the water would settle little by little,

losing its impurities.

The final reservoir held
clean drinking water,

which would then be piped
into the city's water system.

Years of archaeological excavations
have found that Petra's water system

was tremendously complex.

The city was surrounded by dams
and a network of reservoirs

for storage and purification,
along with long diversion canals,

all helping to avoid flooding

while also storing
the city's precious rainwater supply.

The city center contained
dozens of kilometers of canals.

Water was routed along the cliffsides,

passed through the streets in aqueducts,

flowed over walls and fed into the city's
many cisterns and reservoirs.

TWEISSI: If we connect actually
all the pipes together,

we can reach something like
170 kilometers of pipes in one line.

So, this gives us an idea of

how much work done to protect
the site, and the region.

PARADISE: Once they learned how to
engineer that water for storage,

and built cisterns and storage facilities
and reservoirs,

suddenly you just didn't have water
that was available during seasons,

you had water available all year.

NARRATOR: Petra's mastery of water
made it a genuine desert oasis

in just a few decades.

Next to the Great Temple
in the city center,

the Nabateans even built a large,
luxurious bathing complex

using thousands of liters of water.

The complex was fronted by
a lush garden with numerous trees,

leading to a basin as large as
an Olympic-size swimming pool.

In the middle, stood
a richly decorated pavilion.

Thousands of years later,
the site lies in ruins.

When archaeologists first began
excavating here decades ago,

they never expected to find
something so lavish.

FOURNET (in French): Before
the excavations, none of this was visible.

These slopes appeared
barren and undeveloped,

but once we excavated, we
found remnants of what was here.

Excavations revealed an
extremely complex system of pipes,

hydraulic surfaces, and cisterns that
were refined architecturally.

Archaeologists quickly realized
that they were dealing with

a highly complex system that
included an open-air pool,

which had in the middle of it a
large and extremely elegant pavilion.

And below the pool, there was a garden,

which was also very polished
from an architectural standpoint.

The representation element
was clearly present.

The entire system was supported by a
series of cisterns and aqueducts

that brought water from
all over the valley.

NARRATOR: But this wasn't
the only luxurious use of water

in this 2,000-year-old desert city.

Further away,
at the top of Jabal Khubthah,

was an even more sophisticated spot.

A gigantic thermal spa.

Its entrance was through a wide courtyard,

which opened onto
a banquet room on one side,

and a frigidarium on the other.

The frigidarium held a pool of cold water,

the first stop for spa visitors.

The next room was the tepidarium,
a warm-water pool.

It helped visitors adjust
to the following hot rooms...

equipped with group basins
large enough for two or three people.

[bell jingles]

The discovery of this thermal spa
was a surprise to archaeologists.

It was unusual to find such
a complex site on the plains

overhanging the city center.

FOURNET (in French): Petra is
well-known and very popular.

Once you take an interest in the ruins,

you realize that a lot of them are
partially visible but unidentified.

That's why the initial idea was
to create a map of the area

showing all the walls of which
the top is more or less still visible.

Then, based on that map,
we wanted to interpret

what Jabal Khubthah looked
like in the past.

Imagine our surprise when the map revealed

all the well-known characteristics
of traditional thermal architecture.

The excavation further revealed
that despite its location,

on top of a massive cliff, there was
really a thermal spa right where we stand.

NARRATOR:
In the section containing the hot baths,

excavations uncovered a
complex heating system

inspired by the Romans called a hypocaust.

A hearth in a ventilated service room
served as the main heat source.

Small openings connected it
to the floors of the spa rooms,

funneling hot air and smoke
underneath the hot bath

in an underground chamber
constructed from stacked bricks,

allowing heat to freely circulate.

The walls also held a network
of clay water pipes,

which were connected to outlets
on the roof of the building.

Other excavations revealed
the ruins of nearby buildings,

part of a complex that
covered the entire plateau.

FOURNET (in French): This is the aqueduct
that fed into the baths and which

was connected to an expansive
rain water retention network.

It ran all across this valley and fed
into the water tower of the spa.

And of the other side there was
an interesting rock sanctuary

that one could access via a staircase
that used to be right here.

NARRATOR: The baths of Jabal Khubthah

drew inspiration from
Greco-Roman thermal culture.

But this small sanctuary
indicates that thermal practice here

may not have been simply for leisure,

but was likely connected to ritual.

In this complex towering over the city,

the wealthiest of Petra's inhabitants
relaxed in luxurious style,

while taking in the view of their capital.

The Nabateans overcame nature's obstacles,

from the unforgiving desert
and sheer cliffsides

to tectonic instability.

In only 200 years,
in an inhospitable landscape,

this ancient civilization built
a luxurious and extraordinary city.

FOURNET (in French):
What's fascinating about the

culture of the Nabateans is how,

in just a few centuries, they managed

to become incredibly wealthy.

They wanted the best of the world,

which meant they imported
artisans, architects, materials,

and practices from the Greco-Roman world.

Since the Nabateans were able to get
the cream of the crop and in record time,

in less than two centuries, they built
a city that was truly exceptional,

combining the very best elements
from Rome and Egypt

to create their own luxurious and
exuberant mix of the two.

NARRATOR: In 106 AD,

the Roman Empire annexed
the Nabatean kingdom.

Over time, the city's structures
were modified, transformed,

or even destroyed by Roman engineers.

The city was slowly abandoned,

and its location lost to history.

It would only be rediscovered in the
early 19th century by a Swiss explorer.

Ever since then,
Petra has captivated its visitors.

PARADISE: It's easy for us to think
that people in our past

were not as clever
and knowledgeable as we are now.

But when we look at the engineering
expertise of the Nabateans then,

I really think we're looking
at a society, a community,

of amazing engineering skills.

They knew how to use
the rock to their advantage,

for storage, for decoration;

they knew how to use a landscape

covered with a beautiful soil

that would've been ideal for agriculture,

and they knew that water was the key
and the source to their livelihood.

GRAF: We don't have
any parallel for the Nabateans

and their architecture elsewhere,

so it is fairly unique.

Their engineering skill,
their artistic skill,

their architectural skill,

all of these are very impressive.

NARRATOR: Two thousand years later,

mysteries still remain at Petra.

Archaeologists, historians, and geologists

continue to study the city's
incredible structures.

Petra endures as an unparalleled monument

to the architectural mastery
of its ancient builders.