Jordan is the country that contains Petra, the ancient city famous for its rock-cut façades.
Petra lies in southern Jordan, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The Nabataeans established it as their capital and transformed naturally sheltered sandstone valleys into a major settlement with tombs, temples, water channels, and monumental entrances.
The best-known façade is Al-Khazneh, often called the Treasury, although it was probably a royal tomb rather than a storehouse of treasure. Visitors reach Petra through the Siq, a narrow gorge that forms the city’s dramatic approach.
Petra prospered because Nabataean traders controlled routes linking Arabia with the Levant and the Mediterranean world. Roman annexation in 106 CE changed its political position, while earthquakes and shifting trade routes contributed to its later decline. A Swiss explorer, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, brought Petra to wider Western attention in 1812.