Jordan is home to Petra, the ancient city famous for buildings carved into rose-coloured rock.
Petra was the capital of the Nabataean Kingdom, an Arab kingdom that controlled important trade routes through the region. Its location between the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, and the Levant helped it prosper as a trading centre.
The city is reached through the Siq, a narrow natural gorge. Its best-known monument, Al-Khazneh, is a monumental rock-cut façade whose name means “The Treasury,” although its original function was probably a royal tomb.
Petra became less important after Roman annexation and changes in trade routes. It was brought to wider Western attention in 1812 by Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt and became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.