Petra — The Treasury

The story behind the place

Petra’s Treasury, Al-Khazneh, is carved into a sandstone cliff. Its façade rises about 40 metres, with columns, broken pediments and a rounded upper centre crowned by an urn. Despite its familiar nickname, it is a façade tomb rather than a treasury of stored riches. Look at the way the architecture remains part of the rock around it: the cliff is both its material and its setting.

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