Palace Tomb

The Palace Tomb is the most expansive rock-cut facade along Petra's so-called Royal Wall, carved directly into the rose-red sandstone cliffs of the Nabataean capital around 200 CE. Its four gateways and 18 engaged columns mimic a Hellenistic or Roman palatial facade — scholars have proposed the Domus Aurea of Emperor Nero as a possible model, pointing to deep cultural exchange between the Nabataean kingdom and Rome. Whose remains were interred here remains unknown; the tomb chambers were most likely looted in antiquity. Today visitors approach across uneven terrain to a facade whose scale only becomes apparent up close, the warm sandstone shifting through ochre, amber and violet as the desert light changes through the afternoon.