The Nabataeans were a clever and inventive people who built Petra as their capital city about 2,300 years ago. They were expert traders who carried spices, silk and perfume across the desert, and they became very wealthy. To show off their skill, they carved enormous, beautifully decorated buildings right into the cliff faces. The colour of the stone shifts from pink to orange to purple depending on the time of day and the angle of the sun.
To reach the heart of Petra, visitors walk through a narrow canyon called the Siq. The Siq is about 1.2 kilometres long and the cliff walls rise up to 80 metres on each side — so tall that you can barely see the sky above. At the end of the Siq, the path suddenly opens up and the famous Treasury building appears in front of you. It is about 40 metres tall and every detail of it was chiselled by hand.
Petra is sometimes called the 'rose-red city' because of the colour of the sandstone. The city has more than 800 carved monuments, including a theatre that could seat 3,000 people, rows of shops, and a colonnaded street lined with columns. Archaeologists are still discovering new caves and carvings that have been hidden under the sand for centuries.