Street of Façades

Photo tour  

The walk from Al-Khazneh (Treasury) to the center of Petra leads first through the narrow Outer Siq. Where the gorge widens, high tomb facades carved out of the rock on the left side stand next to each other like a row of mansions, for which this part is dubbed Street of Facades. In our informative photo tour, we draw attention to various details along the path and of the heavily weathered fronts that are not immediately noticeable.

An unusual example of Nabataean rock architecture is the tomb tower BD 70, which is over 15 m high. Carved out on three sides and bearing a wreath of bricked-up crenellations, it stands at an exposed location and was probably particularly important. Passing some apparently buried facades, whose gables can be seen from close up, one reaches the restored tomb BD 825 with 17 graves and some remarkable details, such as a nefesh on the door frame. Another highlight is the Uneishu Tomb, which stands elevated at the beginning of the western wall of the Jabal al-Khubtha massif.

This section of our tour through Petra leads to the Theatre Necropolis with a multitude of smaller tombs, staggered in several rows on the slope.

Map of this chapter

History of Petra