Petra (rock in Greek) is an archaeological site in Jordan, located about 250 km south of the capital Amman, in a basin between the mountains east of Wadi Araba, the great valley that stretches from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea.
The archaeological complex was revealed to the western world by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812.
The numerous facades carved into the rock, mostly referred to as sepulchers, make it a unique monument, which was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on December 6, 1985
