Petra...
7:29 p.m.
05/11/19 - Petra (stone), the capital city of the Nabataean Kingdom, was discovered in 1812 by the Swiss explorer Johann Burckhardt, who practically had to become a bedouin to find it. Of all the ruins that have stood the test of time, the star is Al Khazneh or The Treasury, a façade totally carved and sculpted in the rocks of the Aravá valley. Reaching the Al-Khazneh, after the darkness of the Siq passage, is an overwhelming experience for the art travelers.
It is said to have been built as a mausoleum for a Nabatean king, who must have been quite important and rich, since the façade is 39 mts tall and 28 mts wide. Although others believe it was in fact an Egyptian Pharaoh who commissioned its construction to hide his treasure in the urn on the top, thus its name.
The carvings on the wall of red sandstone are incredibly perfect and on top it has a dome shaped like an urn (bullet-holes can be found all over it, since the Bedouins believed a treasure was hidden inside). In the lower level we see 6 columns, with sculptures of human figures, dressed in robes and holding different symbols. The higher level holds a bird, possibly an eagle which symbolized a Nabatean deity. It was recently discovered that the carvings were done from top to bottom, and that the sculptures looked meticulously to find the perfect rock to carve the façade.
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