Petra Pool and Garden Complex

The remains of a Nabataean pleasure garden next to the Great Temple — the only known example of its kind in the Nabataean world. The complex included a vast pool, water channels, plantings, and a pavilion on an island.

The visible remains are subtle. Look for the rectangular outline of the pool, traces of the channels that fed it, and the foundations of the pavilion at the centre. It is a place that rewards a good guide or a careful read of the small interpretive panels; otherwise it is easy to miss.

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A story
Recent excavations have revealed a 43-metre swimming pool and a pavilion sitting on what was once an artificial island in the centre — a Hellenistic-style paradise garden inside a desert canyon, fed by aqueducts running 7 km from the springs at Wadi Musa.

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