Petra was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. The ancient city lies in southern Jordan and is famous for monumental buildings carved directly into rose-colored sandstone, earning it the nickname “Rose City.”
Petra was developed by the Nabataeans, an Arab people who made it a major trading center between Arabia, Egypt, Syria, and the Mediterranean world. Its success depended partly on sophisticated water-management systems, including channels, cisterns, dams, and reservoirs that supported life in an otherwise dry landscape.
The site’s most recognizable monument is Al-Khazneh, or the Treasury, but Petra contains a much larger archaeological landscape of tombs, temples, streets, churches, and dwellings. The city was known in antiquity as Raqmu and was later incorporated into the Roman Empire. It became less prominent as trade routes changed.
Petra’s UNESCO listing is sometimes confused with its selection as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, which occurred in 2007 through a global popular vote. UNESCO recognition came much earlier, in 1985, because of Petra’s outstanding cultural and historical significance.