XI Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2019

Mysterious and unusual rocky town about which the antiquity sages found time to write and which was even mentioned in the Bible, this is the place where Moses extracted water from the rock and the local small river still bears the name Wadi Musa that means “Moses River”. This is all about the ancient city of Petra in Jordan.

Petra is an ancient city in Jordan and the capital of the Nabataean kingdom. Petra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and in July 2007 this city was included in the New Seven Wonders of the World list along with the pyramids in Giza (Egypt), the Taj Mahal (India) and the city of Machu Picchu (Peru).

Petra is located in the Wadi Musa valley, 260 km from Amman, or 126 km from Aqaba where many tourists who want to take guided tours stop.

In 2000 BC Nabatean Arab nomads decided to settle in this area and built their capital, the city of Petra, in an inaccessible place and for a thousand years the fortress city could not be taken by enemies by force. It was first mentioned in Egyptian documents in the 13th century BC. You can see many of the achievements of that time there: a system of hydraulic structures, water pipes for industrial and drinking water, rock cut temples, an amphitheater and parts of columns survived from that time. Petra takes up to 3000 visitors per day. You may need to spend at least two days in the city for a good tour.

In connection with the rocky location of the city residents of the ancient city of Petra managed to build residential and other buildings there. The ancient masters could construct houses and other buildings directly in the rock while the decorations and architecture were not inferior to the great Greek and Roman architects. The earthquake that occurred in 363 badly damaged Petra and the people had to leave the city.

The gorge is narrow and high rocky walls on both sides do not allow the sun to penetrate here. Therefore, it is not as hot as in the open space there. So you have to walk 1.5 kilometers along the winding canyon until you reach the exit to the quaint building completely carved out of the rock named Al-Hazne or the Pharaoh's Treasury. This temple and mausoleum were probably built in the II century AD. The exact purpose of the building is now difficult to define. Then the tunnel expands behind this mausoleum and we can enjoy the wonderful view of the old rock-cut city with many ordinary stone houses, markets, administrative and entertainment facilities. Traces of Roman influence have also remained - a street decorated with a traditional colonnade passes through the city. Going further, in the red-pink rocks, you can see the facades of buildings. For example, Ed Deir is a huge monastery located on the top of a cliff. The walls of this monumental building, 50 meters high and wide, have cutouts of crosses, showing the influence of the Christian church.

Not far from here you can see another famous building - the three-story Roman palace, called the Palace burial vault. Nearby there is the Urn tomb. But there were also buildings for household purposes there. Considerable attention can be paid to the temple of Qasr el-Bint, dated by the 1st century BC, erected in honor of the Arab goddess Al-Uzza.

Conducting research, traces of the work of the architectural engineering leaving behind the modern specifications were found. The halls of the temples have perfectly smooth walls with friezes 80–220 centimeters wide, traces of the preserved molten stone cladding, ideal forms of half-columns 20 meters high cut from solid rock. However, there are also structures that were not completed because of some mistakes at the early stage but these are merespeculations. Therefore, there are many rocks in a very elementary stage of the fancy facade outlines.

There are also many apartments inside the city. An apartment on the top level consisting of five rooms with a total area of ​​350-500 m2 is one of the examples. The ceiling is at a height of 9-12 meters from the floor. Unfortunately a part of the rock forming one of the walls broke off because of the earthquakes.

Paying attention to the work of the Roman architects, who built an amphitheater in Petra at a later date, we can notice a careless performance, the seats were also cut out by boasters but the quality leaves much to be desired.

To date, only 10% of the city has been excavated. It is still a mystery how the builders carved out the building in the temple. As a rule, in such cases it is necessary to construct scaffolding but there were no trees in the area. It only remained, taking advantage of the camber in the rock, to climb up and begin the work from the top. At the same time it is still unknown how the workers managed to work at a high altitude “hanging” and how they estimated the size and scale of the future construction. The buildings of Petra Nabatean masters are distinguished by their originality. Currently this place attracts thousands of tourists who want to plunge into the atmosphere of ancient rock architecture and witness great works of art.

In conclusion I can say that the ancient facades of Petra buildings reflect the development of architecture, derivations from different styles and structures as well as creation and development of new systems used in such a complex landscape.

LITERATURE:

1) http://www.kramola.info/vesti/neobyknovennoe/petra

2) http://www.vokrugsveta.ru/encyclopedia

3) http://www.awesomeworld.ru/sozdannoe-rukami-cheloveka/petra-zagadochnyiy-gorod-pustyini.html

4) https://morefactov.ru/fact/drevnij-gorod-petra-udevitelnaya-dostoprimechatelnost-iordanii