About 2,000 years ago, the powerful ancient kingdom of the Nabataeans hand-carved a city into the sandstone cliffs of Petra .

But an extraordinary sight awaited Burckhardt as he emerged into the open air on the other side: a fantastic building, sculpted ... of the Treasury have greeted arrivals to Petra.

As visitors enter Petra from the winding gorge known as the Siq, they first behold the towering edifice of Al Khazna, or the Treasury ... capital of the Nabataean people for hundreds of years ...

More than the Treasury, it’s an ancient city ... the mountainous area surrounding Petra was a trade route. The native people were Arabic nomads, or Bedouins, called the Nabataeans.