It’s 1989 and I’m watching the latest installment of the Indian Jones movies, Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. The camera pans past the actors riding through a canyon and an ornate stone structure carved into the mountain emerges. This is the first time I see the Treasury Monument of the City of Petra. I find out years later that this isn’t a movie set, but an actual place in Jordan. WHAT?!!! I instantly become obsessed. Cut to seventeen years later, and I find myself walking towards The Treasury through a canyon lit with candles, and hearing a mournful woodwind instrument sound ahead of me. I get chills and I can’t believe I’m actually here.
I reach the end of canyon and the open ground is covered with hundreds of paper bag candles. My gaze is drawn to a shadowy doorway carved into the mountain and a lone Jordanian man playing an Arabic version of bagpipes. I can see The Treasury looming up out of the flickering light. I’m surrounded by stone still warmed by the late afternoon sun and an eerie melodic song echoing through the canyon. I have a permanent smile on my face and think, “And this is why I travel. To experience moments like this.”
I return to Petra the next morning so I can fully explore the city. Walking through the winding canyon in daylight gives me a different perspective and realization of how deep of a canyon I’m in. The walls soar for hundreds of feet above me and the air is cool despite the 30+ degree heat. It’s no wonder this city wasn’t discovered until 1812 by Swiss explorer, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
A brief history of Petra so you can understand the magnitude of the discovery…
The city of Petra was established as a trading post by the Nabateans, an Arab Bedouin tribe from the region in what is now southwestern Jordan. A technique called rock-cut architecture was used to carve the buildings out of the surrounding mountains. The Nabateans living and trading in Petra accumulated vast wealth, and the Greeks decided to attack the city in 312 B.C. This was the first reference to Petra in recorded history. The Romans invaded Petra in 106 A.D. and forced the Nabateans to surrender. They ruled the city for more than 250 years until an earthquake destroyed many of its buildings in the middle of the fourth century A.D. By the beginning of the eighth century A.D., Petra was abandoned.
The crown jewel of Petra and what it’s most famous for is the Treasury Monument. Before I visited Petra, I had a photo in my mind that I wanted to take of the Treasury. This often happens to me in that I have a visual of a photo I want to capture before I’ve even visited a place. It’s worked in my favour at times, but has also led to disappointment when reality doesn’t match what I’ve envisioned. The Treasury does not disappoint. I set my camera up at a spot where the canyon opens to a partial view of the magnificent façade and settle in to wait for that magic moment. A Bedouin stops his camel at the entrance to the canyon directly in front of The Treasury. Omg, this is even better than I’d hoped for! I snap dozens of photos and can’t believe my luck. My patience has paid off. Thousands of photos later and this is still one of my all-time favourites.
To start the initial carving, the Nabateans would push large amounts of rock and sand at the foot of the mountain where they wanted their building, gradually adding more rubble as they continued to carve out the façade. Once they reached a certain point they created an ingenious, but also possibly dangerous, way to access the lofty heights. Can you see the square shapes in the stone to the right of the building? These were holes made by the carvers to slot in long planks of wood that they could stand on while they carved their way up the face of the mountain. Same principle as what loggers used to use to chop down old growth trees. Clever!
Despite knowing how The Treasury was created, it still boggles the mind. What would possess a people to toil for years to create such massive, ornate buildings? Has civilization always wanted make their mark on nature? Is it hard-wired in us? Hundreds years from now, will travelers feel the same awe of seeing skyscrapers the way I do about seeing The Treasury? There’s much to contemplate as I find a solitary perch to view this stunning city.
