Urn Tomb

About Urn Tomb

The Urn Tomb is the first and best-preserved of the Royal Tombs, the row of monumental facades cut into the foot of Jabal al-Khubtha on the right-hand side of the valley just past the Theatre in Petra. It was carved in the first half of the 1st century AD, most likely as the mausoleum of the Nabataean king Malichus II (died 70 AD), and the remains of a statue thought to be his survive in the central niche of the facade. The name comes from the urn that crowns the pediment; local people also call it al-Mahkama, "the Court". The facade is about 16 m wide and 26 m high and fronts a wide courtyard carried on two storeys of built stone vaults and arches, which give the tomb its towering look from below. The inner hall is a large square chamber of roughly 19 m a side. In 447 AD it was converted into a Byzantine church: the burial niches were reshaped into apses and an inscription on the wall records the dedication, one of the earliest witnesses to Christian Petra. The tomb lies on the main Petra trail. Just after the Theatre a short flight of steps turns right and climbs to the courtyard in about ten minutes; from there a path runs along the same slope to the Silk Tomb, the Corinthian Tomb and the Palace Tomb. The courtyard gives a wide view over the city centre, the Theatre and the Street of Facades.

Where:

Petra, Jordan