The Jordanian city of Petra is hoping to win a place as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World – and with good reason, says Dan Hayes
The elderly Bedouin has decided that honesty is the best policy. ‘These I dug up here in Petra with my own hands,’ he says, pointing to a cardboard tray while holding up a well-used trowel. Then he indicates a second tray. ‘These are made in China.’
At first glance there is little to differentiate the two. Both contain weathered, sand-blown pottery lampsand statuettes. It is only on closer inspection that the modern copies display a rather more bacchanalian nature than do the originals. Sex sells, it seems – even when it comes to copies of Roman oil lamps.
In the trader’s defence, it must be difficult to attract visitors’ attention here, standing in front of some of the most dramatic ancient ruins on the planet. No matter how many times you may have seen Petra in photographs, the real thing is still awe-inspiring. Entering the site through the Siq, a cleft through solid rock whose towering walls serve to muffle sound, you follow twists and turns until you glimpse the ornately carved façade of Al-Khazneh (the Treasury), arguably the signature building of Petra.
In ancient times camel trains would probably have approached the city along this route and it is still possible to see an image of a trader and his beasts cut into the sandstone cliff. The shock and awe a desertdwelling merchant would have received on his first entrance to Petra 2,000 years ago must have been immense. The site would have been much greener then, historians believe, with streams, canals and cisterns all serving to irrigate the area.
Founded probably in the second century BC by the Nabataeans – Bedouin merchants who made their money from trading in silks, spices and medicines – influenced by the ancient Greeks, occupied by the Romans and largely abandoned after an earthquake in 363AD, Petra was not glimpsed by a modern-era European until 1812, when Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt passed through
The European vision of Petra was really shaped, however, by one-time Scottish house painter David Roberts. Roberts travelled to Petra in 1838 via Alexandria and Cairo. Wearing local dress and accompanied by armed guards, Roberts spent several days sketching the sites of Petra and his resulting paintings were received with amazement by a European audience intrigued by the mysteries of the Arabic-speaking world.
Roberts’ pictures capture not only the magnificent remnants of Nabataean and Roman civilizations, they demonstrate how much greener the city was even as recently as the mid-19th century.
They also show the Bedouin community that lived among the ruins. The descendants of the fierce-looking, colourfully robed men he portrayed still live in the area, although Timberland boots, baseball caps and jeans seem to be replacing more traditional forms of dress – for men, at least.
Recently, the lives of Petra’s one-time inhabitants have received a burst of publicity following the publication of Marguerite van Geldermalsen’s book Married to a Bedouin (Virago, £12.99/$25). New Zealander Van Geldermalsen was travelling through the Middle East in the 1970s when she met and married Mohammad Abdallah Othman.
Their son, Raami Manajah, now runs a business in Petra selling handicrafts, souvenirs and – of course – copies of his mother’s book. He also plans to launch a trekking company that will allow travellers to enjoy an authentic Bedouin experience. At first glance, he looks like many of the other young men making a living on the ancient site – cap, jeans, boots – but in an instant he switches from chatting in Arabic to a colleague to speaking in New Zealand-accented English.
He has fond memories of growing up in Petra: ‘It was great. We had a 2,000-year-old city as a backyard. It was really good fun. I would go down after school some days and help my dad run the shop making sand bottles and that kind of stuff. I’d also get to meet all sorts of people from all over the world.’
Manajah has seen first hand how Petra has changed over the past two decades, how increasing visitor numbers have put pressure on the Unesco-listed site and how life has changed for the local Bedouin. ‘These days there are a lot more tours and tourists than there were 15 years ago,’ he says, adding that people no longer live within the site and the shops and stalls within it are more regulated.
But, he adds, this has not detracted from the visitor experience. ‘Hospitality is the basis of the Bedouin culture – that’s what makes Jordan a friendly place. And the Bedouin are adapting pretty well to the modern world – most people have email and internet at home and most houses have a satellite dish to get you more TV channels than you can watch. Lots of the Bedouin can speak foreign languages, too. I know people who can do business in at least five different languages.’
During the mid-1990s over 400,000 people were visiting Petra every year. That number has fallen in more recent times, but the site still has to accommodate very large numbers of visitors. On the plus side, it now has a Unesco-inspired management plan in place that is designed to ensure sustainability and action is being taken to remedy misguided restoration that may be damaging the remains of ancient buildings.
For all its jaw-dropping wonder, however, Petra contains some contradictions. In the centre of the ancient site the modern Basin restaurant provides a rather incongruous addition – the rumbling of its generator providing an unexpected backdrop to the rocks’ changing colours as the afternoon wears on.
In comparison to many other heritage sites of this magnitude, there is also little by way of interpretation here. The individual ruins and remains are exceptional in their own right, but there is not much to tell the visitor anything further about them – although there is a small museum next door to the Basin that displays many items discovered on the site, including a capital decorated with an elephant’s head found in recent excavations of the 1st century BC Great Temple – proof of the extent of the Nabataeans’ trading empire.
Despite these recent finds, however, and the obvious reminders of their architectural prowess, the Nabataeans remain a mysterious people. They may soon be arousing considerably more global interest. July 7 marks the culmination of the New Seven Wonders of the World Campaign, which will see the results of a global vote to determine the existing sites equivalent to the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Petra is one of the favourites to make the grade and Eman Affaneh, director of marketing at Jordan Tourism in Amman, is feeling confident. ‘There is a very long list of reasons why it should be one of the seven,’ she says. ‘It is important architecturally, historically and it has a fascinating heritage that dates back centuries. Recognition would mean a lot both to Petra and to Jordan – obviously the city is already well known, but international recognition such as this would help remind the world what an amazing place Petra is.’
Someone who already knows this better than most, the Petra-born Manajah, agrees: ‘The wonder is why it wasn’t on the list before. It is the only capital city in the world that is carved out of the mountains. People have to see it to feel the power it holds.’
How to get there
British Airways and Royal Jordanian operate regular flights from London Heathrow to Amman. Petra is around a three-and-a-halfhour drive south of the Jordanian capital.
Where to stay
Mövenpick Resort Petra PO Box 214 Wadi Mousa 71810 www.moevenpick-hotels.com
New Seven Wonders
Petra faces tough competition from the likes of the Alhambra; the Colosseum; the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China. www.new7wonders.com
