Qasr al-Bint (8)

Qasr al-Bint is the principal temple of Petra's monumental center, in Jordan, dedicated to the Nabataean god Dushara. Standing 23 meters high, it is one of the few structures on the site built entirely rather than carved into the rock, made of sandstone blocks covered in stucco and fitted with juniper beams arranged as an anti-seismic device. Located at the end of the Colonnaded Street, on a wide paved esplanade, it was embellished during the Roman period before being partially destroyed by an earthquake. Its modern name, meaning "castle of the daughter," comes from a local legend involving a pharaoh's daughter. Excavations conducted in the twenty-first century, notably by a French team, revealed the extent of the sacred precinct that once surrounded it. 

The roman theatre (13)

The theater of Petra, in Jordan, is a Nabataean structure carved in the first century CE into the southern flank of Jebel al-Madhbah, about 600 meters from the center of the ancient city. Its cavea, 95 meters in diameter with 45 rows of seating, could hold up to 8,500 spectators, more than the ancient theater of Amman. Built under King Aretas IV, at the political and cultural peak of the Nabataean kingdom, it was carved at the expense of older Nabataean tombs, whose gaping openings remain visible behind the seating rows. Although Greco-Roman in inspiration, combining carved rock with masonry, the theater predates by several decades the Roman annexation of 106 CE. 

The street of Facades (7)

The Street of Facades, at Petra in Jordan, refers to the row of monumental tombs lining the Siq where it widens, just past the Khazneh. Dating from the late first century BCE to the early first century CE, these facades belong to the so-called "Hegra" style, characterized by stepped friezes of Mesopotamian inspiration, named after the Nabataean city of Hegra, today Mada'in Salih in Saudi Arabia. Carved into the sandstone and likely originally covered with painted plaster, they sometimes rise up to ten meters high and rank among the more than 600 tombs recorded at Petra. This funerary sector, now largely stripped of its contents, illustrates the wealth and social diversity of Nabataean society. 

Tourists (18)

One of the major tourist sites of Jordan, Petra attracts almost a million visitors every year…