Discover Petra

Petra's architecture blends Hellenistic, Assyrian, Roman, and Egyptian influences into something distinctly Nabataean -- a fusion that reflects the city's position at the crossroads of ancient trade routes rather than any single cultural tradition.

Most of Petra's most famous structures, including the Treasury, are rock-cut -- carved directly into sandstone cliff faces from the top down, rather than built up from a foundation, an approach that left the facades structurally part of the mountain itself. Elsewhere in the city, more conventional free-standing buildings, temples, and colonnaded streets were constructed from quarried stone.

Just as significant as the carved monuments is Petra's water engineering -- an extensive system of channels, dams, and cisterns captured and distributed the region's scarce rainfall, making it possible for a substantial population to live year-round in an otherwise inhospitable desert canyon.