Petra Tour: Great Temple
The largest freestanding architectural complex in Petra did not serve religious worship, but was built as a representative royal reception hall, up from the end of the 1st century BC or beginning of the 1st century AD.
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All columns were built of uneven drums of rough-hewn local sandstone and stood on an Attic base of white limestone. The gaps between the individual blocks were filled with mortar, smaller stones and shards. The height of the columns can only be estimated. Including the base and capitals, it was about 15.5 m at the portico and 12 m otherwise.
Like all visible surfaces of the 'Great Temple', the columns were plastered with stucco and painted. The lower third was painted red or yellow. On the upper two thirds white stucco has been applied and fluted (decorated with concave furrows).
On the photo, stucco work can be seen on the far right and far left rear columns. Another example in the second photo above.
© Photos, summary: Haupt & Binder, Universes in Universe
The largest freestanding architectural complex in Petra did not serve religious worship, but was built as a representative royal reception hall, up from the end of the 1st century BC or beginning of the 1st century AD.