Understanding Al-khazneh

The lower tombs

Excavations that begun in 2003 discovered four burial chambers with pediment-style façades six metres below the surface of Al-khazneh. Findings within the tombs – including bone fragments – allowed archaeologists to date the tombs to the 1st century BCE.

Ground surface level

How did tombs get under the ground below Al-khazneh? They didn’t. When the Nabataean dam finally disintegrated, flash flooding returned to the Petra area. The stone and sand deposited by the torrential waters over centuries gradually built up the ground by six or seven metres to today’s level.

The urn

The urn, which crowns the façade, is looking a little worse for wear these days. Convinced it contained treasure, local Bedouin used to take pot shots at it with their rifles, which has resulted in its pockmarked appearance.

Damage to the reliefs

The damage to the figurative carvings on Al-khazneh was the work of the iconoclasts in the 8th century who, under Caliph Yazid II’S orders, destroyed human representations.

The façade

Al-khazneh’s façade is 39.6 metres high and 28 metres wide. Its classical style utilises Corinthian columns and detailed reliefs depicting lions, gryphons and sculpted figures of deities.

Sandstone

Petra’s red-pink sandstone cliffs are rich in iron and manganese minerals. These minerals create Petra’s distinctive red-hued rock, streaked with a multiplicity of veins, which vary in colour from yellows through to browns.

Bore holes

A line of bore holes frame each side of Al-khazneh’s façade. Archaeologists surmise that these may have been used for stairs or scaffolding so that the builders could climb up and down from the work platform.