Saudi Arabia is home to Hegra, the ancient city that became the country’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. Also called Mada’in صالح, Hegra lies in the Al-Ula region of northwestern Saudi Arabia and preserves monumental rock-cut tombs.
The site was the southernmost major settlement of the Nabataean Kingdom, whose capital was Petra. Nabataean builders carved tomb facades into sandstone outcrops and inscribed many of them with legal and funerary texts. Hegra flourished especially in the first century BCE and first century CE.
The Roman annexation of the Nabataean Kingdom in 106 CE changed regional political control, but Hegra’s tombs and settlement remain evidence of the city’s earlier importance. Its location connected caravan routes across the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant.
Hegra is often compared with Petra because both contain Nabataean rock architecture. They are separate sites in different countries: Petra is in Jordan, while Hegra is in Saudi Arabia.