QASR AL-BINT

How to get there. The Qasr al-Bint is located at the end of the Rue des Colonnades, after Hadrian's Arch, on the left.

Visit. Mostly in ruins, the Qasr al-Bint is nevertheless the only building still standing in Petra. Its imposing walls, 24 meters high and 27 meters wide, hint at the splendor of the city at its peak. It would have been built during the reign of Aretas IV (9 BC - 40) just like the Treasury. Its full name, Qasr al-Bint Fa'run, means in Arabic "The castle of the Pharaoh's daughter". It is the name chosen by the Bedouins in reference to the so-called pharaoh (and his putative daughter) who had the Treasury built to hide his wealth. It is actually a temple, probably dedicated to Dushara. Excavations around the site have revealed the remains of the oldest foundations of Raqmu (the Nabataean name for Petra) and it is likely that the natural platform on which the Qasr al-Bint was erected was already used as a place of worship

The altar. The temenos includes a huge altar positioned in front of the temple. It consists of a platform of 13.5 x 12 m raised 3 meters above the ground. It was probably a sacrificial altar in the Nabatean period. The Romans added an apsidal temple next to it. Its outer wall was protected by a gallery of columns. Inside, it housed statues of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus who ruled the Roman Empire between 161 and 169. The inauguration of this temple took place between 165 and 169. It is there that French archaeologists found the head of the marble statue representing Marcus Aurelius.

The temple of Dushara. The building mixes Greco-Roman and Nabatean styles. The façade is a Greek tetrastyle, that is to say 4 columns erected in front of the entrance and supporting a triangular pediment. The wide staircase and the raised podium on which the temple was built are typical of Roman architecture. The decorative elements with geometrical patterns made of stucco were characteristic of the Nabataean style. A monumental staircase that only the priests could use led to the temple. They entered the sanctuary through a monumental door. The small room against the back wall contained a betyl, a stone symbolizing the divine presence. Two halls, on either side of the central courtyard, were perhaps used for ritual banquets. Each had a staircase leading to the upper floor and then to the roof where incense offerings and other religious rituals were held.