Back
in 1981 when I was in senior high school I studied the subject about world
history. That included histories of ancient civilization of Egyptian Pharaohs
and Its Civilization, Machu Pichu with Great Mayan civilization, Borobudur of
Java, Great Wall of China, As well as The Hanging Garden of Petra. It was a very
interesting subject but as a high school student, I did not realize how great
these momentous eras were.
In
1989 the released of Steven Spielberg movie ‘Indiana Jones and the Last
Crusade’ from Paramount Pictures took place in several countries including here
at Petra, Jordan. I did not give so much attention about the location shoot,
but I enjoyed the adventure of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, travelling to
the ancient world to find ‘mysterious’
things as what most of the Indiana Jones story plot is set - to go to unknown
ancient places, and what interest me most was watching the scenes on all trapped
places, magic spells, unusual creatures, etc.
About the image above: Above of Petra is just rocks
and the slope is where the Siq corridor passage
toward El Kazhneh
After
my four years mission in Cambodia, my next destination took me to Sharm El
Sheikh in Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. This was my dream since 2006 - to visit
this country. Earlier before I am flying from Indonesia, I bought some books
about Egypt and Jordan in one of the bookstores in Jakarta, and since then I
started to learn about ancient civilization.
About the image above: Road to Petra
About the image above: modern town of Petra
About the image above: a local man on a horse, transportation to the sites.
After
arriving Egypt, I started to learn more about the map surrounding Egypt and I saw
the country Jordan and then I look upon this interesting place called Petra. I asked my colleague how far is that
place. One problem was I do not have a visa
to cross the border and I asked my agent on how to arrange the visa and I was
very lucky that I do not need a visa since I have an Egyptian visa so I can just
get on the boat when I cross the border to Aqaba. That was great! And so I
decided to have a day trip to Petra from Sharm El Sheik. The journey took about
6-7 hours, with an English-speaking tour guide and my journey has begun.
At
about 01.30 past midnight the driver picked me up from the hotel where I stayed.
I have my camera, bag, tripod, drinks and some light food and sandwiches for
the long trip. The way from Sharm El Sheik to Nuweba near Taba (still in Sinai,
Egypt) took about one hour and forty five minutes. After waiting for a short
while and completing the immigration passport check, I boarded a ferry boat to
cross the Arabian sea to Aqaba, and the trip took about one hour and thirty
minutes. The trip on the boat was fun with the crew, we can also order some
nice coffee and tasty snacks. I arrived at the Jordanian soil at about 5.30 in
the morning, and my English-speaking guide picked me up and escorted me to the
car to transport me to the destination of my dream – Petra!
About the image above: Djinn Block, a guardian before entering the site
About the image above: Obelisks Tomb
On
the way to Petra, there were many fascinating things I captured with my lovely
camera, I can see the morning life in the city of Jordanian desert slowly
unfold before my eyes. People in the villages started their early activities,
cultivating grains on a very dry soil. It took about two and half hours before
I reached the site and in between, we stopped shortly to have some morning
treat, a Jordanian coffee with toasted croissant and honey in a coffee shop
facing the Petra village. The view was
amazing and I was so excited to see how beautiful this place is. I changed some
money to Jordanian Dirham just in case I need to buy some souvenir or something
in the site.
As
we were closely approaching Petra, my guide showed me from where I can see
Petra in an almost aerial view where the scenery was absolutely breathtaking!
We
then reached Petra and bought the ticket to enter this magnificent site. Then my guide started explaining about Petra,
how was the civilization looked like during that great era, I actually knew
some information about it as I have read it earlier.
Petra
or ‘Al Batra’ in Arabic is located in Ma’an Governorate, Jordan. Petra was announced
on 11 November 2011 as the new seven wonder of the world and has been voted by
over 14 million voters. It is famous for its rock cut architecture. Petra
established for settlement during the 6th century B.C. as a capital
city of Nabataeans. But the culture of the wonder of fine rock-cut carving was only
established about 1550 B.C. or maybe they started a bit earlier with some
simple carvings for the purpose of preserving their mummies and tombs for their
ancestors.
About
a century since the 1st century B.C. Petra marked and indentified
itself at one of the cosmopolitan in this peninsula of the desert trade road.
This is a golden road reaching the red sea for the journey to the ancient
Egypt.
Few
explorers described this place as a special place that will last forever like John W. Burgon wrote and included
in his poem as ‘a rose-red city half as
old as time’. UNESCO described as ‘one
of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage’. BBC
chosen it as one of ’the 40 places you have to see before you die’. The introduction
of Petra by a Swiss explorer named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt to the world in
1812 helped to promote it and since then many travelers and adventurers visited
this site.
Fabio
Bourbon wrote on the preface of his book ‘Petra.
An Archaeological Guide history. Civilization and Monuments’ – “Petra is one of those rare places where,
even people who do not believe in magic, quiet soon must revise their
convictions. If you are be able to grasp its charms – by listening to the
poetry of silent, by gazing at the kaleidoscopic, ceaseless change in colours,
while admiring the superb balance of the rock-cut architecture – even you shall
be paid back by the intimate, profound feeling of a matchless beauty. Above
all, you shall go back home storing a treasure in your heart”
Fabio’s
guidebook really help me a lot on this trip as I am not familiar with the place
but with this book I was able to find and discover almost anything in Petra
without further explanation from my tour guide. What Fabio has written in his book
was absolutely true and I have almost the same feeling when I visited Petra. No
other places as magical as Petra, these rock-cut monuments are really
incomparable treasure to other ancient monuments in the other parts of the
world. I have visited many ancient temples in Asia, India and Egypt, and Petra
is completely different, the laser precise of rock-cut carving is really
amazing, and on that period of time, who else among the vast span of human
civilization can do this epic job but only the Nabataean did it!
Besides
that, the rocks are pink in color, in some places the rocks are so colorful
with a kind of rock-layered, beaming with variety of colors, just like painted
naturally which makes this place even more exquisitely stunning. So because of
the pink-reddish colors of the rocks some text called this site as the ‘pink
city’.
We
entered the site of Petra from the main tourist entrance of the Bab al Siq. After walking for a few
meters we started seeing the signs of the civilization appearing as murals on
the rocks with many other small carvings. Then on the left side we saw the Djinn
Blocks
Djinn Blocks are three blocks of
rocks about 5-9 meters high that can be seen easily after entering the
entrance. It is a cube-shape stone carving that was carved on the 1st
century B.C. and looked like the tombs of monolithic cubes. It is believed that
those where the dwellings of cruel spirit reside and will scare to death
anybody that frolicked and bumped into them. It seems like a sacred spot that looked
like a guardian of the place or maybe it has a different function at that time
because the word ‘Djinn’ – or unseen spirit – was completely was non-existent during
the Nabatanean because they believed in different form of spirits.
After
few meters from the Djinn Blocks, on the left hand side there are sand stones carved
in two levels. In the lower level there are small hollow entrance, this is the Tomb of Serpent – it was called so
because there appeared in one of the walls bas reliefs two snakes or serpent that
looked like acting as if attacking a four footed animal. Or maybe it has a different name during the
Nabataean time. The upper lever is also nicely carved similarly to a group of four
tips of Egyptian obelisks – as it is called the Obelisks Tomb. This is about a four-meter high structured rock
carving that is very unique, with different type of carving and very obvious because,
probably it was carved after the invention of Egyptian obelisks and they
started to interact with Egyptian pharaonic rulers in different times to
establish their relation or trade transaction, no one knows.
About the image above: Site of a tomb
About the image above: stone blocks on top of Petra
About the image above: way to the Siq
About the image above: the guards at the entrance
After
these two interesting sites, we continue to move on to reach the beginning of
the Siq, there were many small to medium size tombs which is also amazing to
discover. Just before entering the canyon, there was a tunnel to keep the water
flowing from the upper water source to the other side of Petra water bank that
was used for irrigation and at the same time to keep Petra from flood water,
while the water flow under the constructed bridge by the smart Nabataean
engineers.
Now
we enter the shady colorful canyon of the massive colonnade passage way or the
only bypass road of Petra. I noticed there was a block of stone probably for
the guard as a checkpoint for those who will enter Petra’s inner bypass street
of the Siq. This passage is really spectacular. The length of the passage is
about 1½ kilometers long with amazing ravine embedded between two great natural
walls of about 180 meters high but in some area this maybe shorter. This
natural access is about 3-4 meters wide following the caste of the natural
canyon shape, winding but interesting. This part of Petra is cooler than the other
parts because a higher wall prevents the sunshine from coming in. On the way you can see numerous carvings, ruin
of statues, arch, some inscriptions on the walls. The water flow canal system
was also maintained in this area on both sides of the wall skirting. In some
areas you still can find the original flooring and visible in few parts of the
Siq. As you passed this area, there are some dark areas and the way take you to
many turns, and you will be finally amazed seeing the most beautiful monument
in Petra area, El Khazneh.
El
Khazneh or Treasury is the most famous and elaborate rocky-cut monument
building in Petra. The beauty, the charming, the character, and the most
fascinating thing is the brilliant position of location of this monument, as
soon as you reach this point you will feel really breathless that such grand
and majestic structure, leave a moment of enchanting moment life experience.
This is the most beautiful ancient monument I have ever seen. El Khazneh is
about 39.6 meters high and 28 meters width. Because of the structure of the
monument that is that carved on the well preserved stone, it allows the viewers
to see the grandeur of the ruin for centuries.
We can write unlimited description for this magical ruin as well as
admire and imagine the time when the building has just been completed, of how
beautiful it was. Lots of sacrifices and hard work of Nabataean peoples put to this
grand project, together as team work of amazing artists towards reality of a
dream!
If
we view this El Khazneh surrounding by rock tombs, probably this has been
utilized as a Royal sepulcher, but until this time it is still a controversy. The
service and faith of the believer of that era allowed them to create art out of
imagination that last forever. The building has six pillars that supported the
upper store castle-like carving and has an entrance with steps toward the
inside of the most sacred main hall. The details and the elegant carvings and
decorations are to add significant value to its appearance.
About the image above: the water flow system along the Siq
About the image above: the ceiling of the Siq passage
About the image above: carving on the wall along the Siq
About the image above: the original floor of Petra
About the image above: visitors gathered along the shady Siq
About the image above: El Kazheh, the
Treasure
About the image above: Roman Theatre
After
this incredible monument, we walked the outer Siq and we pass by the many
beautiful rock carvings around the triclinium but mostly tombs carvings. This
area looked like a village with hollow rocks on the right and left hand side.
The passage was a winding down route, feels like a never-ending turning to your
left and right. Here, the rocks were hanging high. A bit further on your left side you will be
surprised to see suddenly a beautiful enormous hollow theatre sculptured into
solid rock with very precise measurement completed with circular sitting style
public rock chairs (theatre style of course) for the audiences and in front has
an entrance stage for performers. This place seems like a central for art and
cultural show or special events – pretty amazing!
Walking
along the Façade Street, especially on the right hand side, there were many
important tombs for Urn, Silk, Corinthian, Palace, Sextius Florentinus, etc. Some
of the carvings here looked like were carved on top of each other. From here I
walked to the Church and Temple of Winged Lions. Then I went down to the front
of the Grand Temple.
From
the ruins of the temple we can see that the great civilization has truly
existed here. Unlike the Egyptian ruins, the pillars are mostly cylindrical
type of pillars with a very smooth finish. This temple must be the most sacred
place in the Nabataean and must be the most visited site during that era, as a
place for center of pilgrimages and worships.
About the image above: Grand tomb
About the image above: stairs to the tombs
About the image above: colorful rocks
About the image above: the Corinthian tombs
About the image above: mosaic of Petra
About the image above: plant at Petra, a (sage) tea leave delicacy
About the image above: the ruin of the main temple of Petra
About the image above: the ruin of the temple of Winged Lion
About the image above: ruin of the carving shows for a column
About the image above: souvenirs from Petra
About the image above: a café to have a drink
About the image above: incredible sunset over Petra
After
the tour of this last temple, I was finally feeling so tired and I cannot walk
anymore! But my mind would like to explore more and more, I would like to
discover the entire Petra but I feel I have no more energy to walk farther. I
wish I could stay for a few more days here to explore Petra, or return in a better
shape next time with better itinerary.
I have taken enough photographs
until here. Then I finally took a cart to go back to the main entrance. Bye for now Petra…until next time.
Petra
was declared by UNESCO as a World Heritage site since 1985 and was also voted
as New Seven Wonder of the World since 11 November 2011.
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