THE MONASTERY (AD-DEIR)

How to get there. The main path starts from the Basin restaurant. It takes 850 steps and 45 minutes (minimum) to reach the top. You can make the ascent by donkey for 15 DJ (to be negotiated). There is another less arduous, but longer path (which can be done via the Back Door Trail).

Visit. With its 47 m high and 48 m wide façade, the Monastery is the most imposing of all the monuments of the ancient city. Its deep resemblance with the Treasury is obvious, even if its ornamentation remains more sober. One is quickly astonished to discover the excellent state of conservation of the monument, in spite of the intense erosion at the origin of the deterioration of many of the tombs of the city. It is however not protected by any mountainside. Contrary to the long held idea, it is not a royal mausoleum, since no tomb has been found. It is rather a vast temple dedicated to the practice of ritual banquets in honor of Obodas II, a Nabataean monarch who reigned from 30 BC to 9 BC and was deified after his death. An inscription found not far from the monastery calls for "remembering Ubaydu son of Waqihel and his associates for the symposium of Obodas the God". A symposium, in ancient Greece, was a banquet given after a meal, accompanied by dancing and singing.

The monastery dates back to the middle of the first century. It takes its name from the Byzantine period when it was probably used as a monastery, and most certainly as a church, as the crosses drawn on the back wall testify. Carved in yellow sandstone, its first level is punctuated by eight pilasters finished with Nabatean capitals with horns for some, of Ionic inspiration for others. An imposing entrance as well as two windows in trompe l'oeil appear between them. The second level is surmounted by a pediment broken by an imposing tholos, a circular temple, framed on each side by two pavilions. Niches have been dug between the pilasters of these three elements. The tholos has at its top an impressive urn of approximately 9 meters in height, visible for miles around.

To the left of the building, a staircase cut in the rock climbs up to a platform where an altar was installed. The staircase continued beyond, to the top of the Monastery, but it was closed by the authorities after the accidental death of a tourist. Prefer the late afternoon light for beautiful photos, but leave in time to get back to the remote entrance of the site.