Al-Khazneh, known in English as the Treasury, is a monumental tomb carved directly into a sandstone cliff face at Petra, the ancient capital of the Nabataean Kingdom in present day Jordan. Cut around the first century AD, most likely as the mausoleum of a Nabataean king, its facade, roughly 39 meters high, combines a lower story of classical columns and a pediment with an upper story built around a broken pediment and a central tholos, a design drawing on Hellenistic and Alexandrian architectural sources reworked into a distinctly Nabataean composition. The facade's English name comes from a local legend that an urn carved near its top held pharaonic treasure, an idea disproved by the many bullet marks left by treasure hunters who fired at the solid stone urn. Reached by visitors on foot through the narrow sandstone gorge known as the Siq, Al-Khazneh is the best known monument at Petra, itself inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
Facts
Building Type Completed YearIt is thought that Al-Khazneh was built as a mausoleum and crypt at the beginning of the 1st century AD during the reign of Aretas IV Philopatris, per Wikipedia; no more exact single year is attested. Classification
Standing StatusSourced to the subject's own account Building Type
Building Type (category)Sourced to the subject's own account Connections
Has Building Type
Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.
In Style
The Treasury at Petra, its facade carved directly into sandstone cliff face in the 1st century BCE, is the defining monument of Nabataean rock-cut architecture.
Uses Element
Source Al-Khazneh (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Jordan, located there.
Sources
1. Al-Khazneh (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation- infobox building_type/type field: Rock-cut mausoleum
lead section, opening sentence
is one of the most elaborate rock-cut tombs in Petra, a city of the Nabatean Kingdom inhabited by the Arabs in ancient times
tourism section, Jordan mention
It is one of the most popular tourist attractions in both Jordan and the region.
lead section, second paragraph
It is thought that Al-Khazneh was built as a mausoleum and crypt at the beginning of the 1st century AD during the reign of Aretas IV Philopatris.
Entity description and the lead of the Wikipedia article
Al-Khazneh, known in English as the Treasury, is a monumental tomb carved directly into a sandstone cliff face at Petra, the ancient capital of the Nabataean Kingdom in present day Jordan. Cut around the first century AD, most likely as the mausoleum of a Nabataean king, its facade, roughly 39 meters high, combines a lower story of classical columns and a pediment with an upper story built around a broken pediment and a central tholos, a design drawing on Hellenistic and Alexandrian architectural sources reworked into a distinctly Nabataean composition. The facade's English name comes from a local legend that an urn carved near its top held pharaonic treasure, an idea disproved by the many bullet marks left by treasure hunters who fired at the solid stone urn. Reached by visitors on foot through the narrow sandstone gorge known as the Siq, Al-Khazneh is the best known monument at Petra, itself inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.
- Uses Element: Sandstone, infobox material field: Sandstone
View the Source 2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation
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