Jordan is the country home to Petra, the ancient city famed for its rose-colored rock-cut architecture.
Petra lies in southern Jordan, between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba. The Nabataeans, an Arab people who controlled major trade routes, developed it as their capital around the 4th century BCE. Its buildings were carved into sandstone cliffs, while dams, channels, and cisterns helped the city manage scarce water.
Petra became especially wealthy from trade in frankincense, myrrh, spices, and textiles. The famous Treasury is a monumental facade, not a building filled with treasure; its Arabic name, Al-Khazneh, reflects a later local legend. Petra was also a Roman city after Rome annexed the Nabataean kingdom in 106 CE. UNESCO listed it as a World Heritage Site in 1985, and it became one of the New7Wonders of the World in 2007.