Speech on Petra
Petra
Good afternoon/morning judging panel, I’m sure today you have heard many submissions for museum funding however none of these have the beauty, mystique and historical importance of the ancient city of Petra. Petra is located in Jordan and is approximately 3 hours south of the current day capital Amman, the city was founded by a nomadic Arab tribe known as the Nabataens and built at around 300 BC. Petra has huge historical importance
As the city shows the influence on the Nabataens from different cultures including Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Chinese and Persian on architecture, trade and stone carving. As well as having these influences Petra is extremely important to historians as it is the first recorded settlement of Arab people.
The name of the city came from the Greek word Petra meaning rock; this is a fitting name as the city is carved out of sandstone desert cliffs in a valley.
Many of the buildings in the city are carved into the rock face and feature influences of Egyptian architecture as well and Greco-Roman architecture. For example the building shown on first slide is called the al-Deir and is a Greek style temple honoured Egyptian goddess Isis. This shows the influence of two very different ancient cultures and how they influenced this ancient civilisation. At Petra there are over 800 tombs carved into the rock face, making the site unique in its placement and amount of tombs. Because of the historical value of these’s buildings I would have the museum built at the entrance to the city so you could walk through the exhibits and then continue into the city. The main entrance to the city is called the ‘Siq’ and is a narrow passage that winds its way to the city temple (seen on first slide)( show photo). The ‘Siq’ would attract many tourists and make this museum extremely unique.
Petra is a UNESCO World Heritage site and so efforts are being made to preserve the city, however the city is still under threat due to collapse of ancient
Good afternoon/morning judging panel, I’m sure today you have heard many submissions for museum funding however none of these have the beauty, mystique and historical importance of the ancient city of Petra. Petra is located in Jordan and is approximately 3 hours south of the current day capital Amman, the city was founded by a nomadic Arab tribe known as the Nabataens and built at around 300 BC. Petra has huge historical importance
As the city shows the influence on the Nabataens from different cultures including Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Chinese and Persian on architecture, trade and stone carving. As well as having these influences Petra is extremely important to historians as it is the first recorded settlement of Arab people.
The name of the city came from the Greek word Petra meaning rock; this is a fitting name as the city is carved out of sandstone desert cliffs in a valley.
Many of the buildings in the city are carved into the rock face and feature influences of Egyptian architecture as well and Greco-Roman architecture. For example the building shown on first slide is called the al-Deir and is a Greek style temple honoured Egyptian goddess Isis. This shows the influence of two very different ancient cultures and how they influenced this ancient civilisation. At Petra there are over 800 tombs carved into the rock face, making the site unique in its placement and amount of tombs. Because of the historical value of these’s buildings I would have the museum built at the entrance to the city so you could walk through the exhibits and then continue into the city. The main entrance to the city is called the ‘Siq’ and is a narrow passage that winds its way to the city temple (seen on first slide)( show photo). The ‘Siq’ would attract many tourists and make this museum extremely unique.
Petra is a UNESCO World Heritage site and so efforts are being made to preserve the city, however the city is still under threat due to collapse of ancient
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