Petra

Petra The capital of the Nabatean Arab,also one of the famous archaeological site in the world,
and the most important tourist attraction in Jordan .

Petra Area :

264 Kilometers (102 sq mi). It located 225 kilometers south of the Jordanian capital Amman.

Driving Hours To Petra From :

Amman:

Desert Highway around 3 hours drives.
Dead Sea Highway around 4 hours drives.
King Highway around 6 to 7 hours drives.

Madaba:

Desert Highway around 3 hours drives.
Dead Sea Highway around 4 hours drives.
King Highway around 5 to 6 hours drives.

Dead Sea:

Desert Highway around 4 hours drives.
Dead Sea Highway around 3 hours drives.
King Highway around 5 to 6 hours drives.

Wadi Rum:

Desert Highway around 2 hours drives.

Aqaba:

Desert Highway around 2 hours drives.

Queen Alia International Airport

Desert Highway around 4 hours drives.
Dead Sea Highway around 4 to 5 hours drives.
King Highway around 7 to 8 hours drives.

Jerash:

Desert Highway around 4 hours drives.
Dead Sea Highway around 4 to 5 hours drives.
King Highway around 7 to 8 hours drives.

Most Important sites in Petra:

The Siq :

The Siq is the main entrance to the ancient Nabatean city of Petra in southern Jordan. Also known as Siqit, the main entrance in Petra is a dim, narrow gorge winds its way approximately 1.2 kilometres and ends at Petra's most elaborate ruin, Al Khazneh.

The entrance to the Siq contains a huge dam, reconstructed in 1963 and again in 1991, designed to bar the mouth of the Siq and reroute the waters of Wadi Musa. The dam is a fairly true reconstruction of what the Nabataeans did to control Wadi Musa between the 1st century BC and the beginning of the 1st century AD. The entrance also contains the remnants of a monumental arch, of which only the two abutments and some hewn stones of the arch itself have survived. The arch collapsed in 1896 following an earthquake, but its appearance is known from the lithographs of Matthew Boulby and David Roberts.

The Siq was used as the grand caravan entrance into Petra. Along both walls of the fissure are a number of votive niches containing baetyli, which suggest that the Siq was sacred to the Nabatean people. In 1998, a group of statues were uncovered when digging was conducted to lower the road by more than six feet. Although the upper part is greatly eroded, it is still possible to recognise the figures of two merchants, each leading two camels. The figures are almost twice lifesize .

Along the Siq are some underground chambers, the function of which has not yet been clarified. The possibility that they were tombs has been excluded, and archaeologists find it difficult to believe that they were dwellings. The majority consensus is that they housed the guards that defended the main entrance to Petra .

Al-Khazna.

Al-Khazneh is one of the most elaborate temples in Petra, a city of the Nabataean Kingdom inhabited by the Arabs in ancient times. As with most of the other buildings in this ancient town, including the Monastery, this structure was carved out of a sandstone rock face .

The monastery - Ad Deir .

Ad Deir, also known as El Deir, is a monumental building carved out of rock in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra. Arguably one of the most iconic monuments in the Petra Archaeological Park, the Monastery is located high in the hills northwest of the Petra city center.

Nabatean Amphitheater.

Petra Theater is a first century AD Nabataean theatre situated 600 m from the centre of Petra. Substantial part of the theater was carved out of solid rock, while the scaena and exterior wall were constructed. The theater's auditorium consists of three horizontal sections of seats separated by passageways and seven stairways to ascend. The theater could accommodate a number of approximately 8500 people, more than the estimated number of Amman theater.Petra Theater follow similar architectural patterns of Roman theaters, which enhances superior acoustics.

Qasr al-Bint .

The Qasr al-Bint is a religious temple in the Nabataean city of Petra. It faces the Wadi Musa and is located to the northwest of the Great Temple and to the southwest of the Temple of the Winged Lions.

The Urn Tomb (The Court).

This derived its name from the jar that crowns the pediment.It was probably constructed around 70 AD. It is preceded by a deep courtyard with colonnades on two sides. High up in the facade there are 3 niches which give on to small burial chambers, but which was adapted in 446 AD to serve as a Byzantine church .