The Painted House
Remains of coloured Nabataean frescoes — among the rarest such paintings anywhere.
hikinginjordan — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gary Bembridge — CC BY 2.0 · Guillaume Baviere from Uppsala, Sweden — CC BY 2.0 · Guillaume Baviere from Uppsala, Sweden — CC BY 2.0
A narrow rock-cut gorge north of Petra, properly called Siq al-Barid, which served as the caravan suburb of the Nabataean city — where the caravans halted before entering Petra itself. The function explains the architecture: storerooms, dining halls, dwellings and small temples carved along both sides of a passage only a few metres wide, with cisterns and channels cut into the rock to gather water. This was not a residential town but a fitted-out caravan station. Its most important feature is the Painted House — a small hall high up the valley, reached by a stair, whose ceiling and walls carry the remains of Nabataean frescoes in colour: grape clusters, vine leaves, birds and figures. These are among the rarest surviving Nabataean paintings anywhere, because the Nabataeans are known for carving rather than painting and very little of it survives. The whole passage walks there and back in an hour, and the stair is narrow in places and cut into the rock. Entry is free with no ticket — a welcome surprise after the price of admission to Petra. It is far quieter and much less visited, and anyone arriving after a crowded day at Petra finds it restful. The back trail to the Monastery at Petra also starts from here for walkers with a guide.
Remains of coloured Nabataean frescoes — among the rarest such paintings anywhere.
Stores, halls and dwellings along a passage only metres wide.
Rock-cut channels and basins — the Nabataean water engineering that built Petra.
Siq al-Barid, about 10 km north of Petra
Not at all. Little Petra is a small site walked in an hour and bears no comparison to Petra in scale or effect. Its value is as a cheap, quick and quiet addition to a Petra day, and it explains something Petra does not: how the caravans were received before entering.
The same day after Petra if time and energy allow, or the following morning before leaving. Early morning is better for photographs because the sun reaches into the narrow passage; late afternoon is cooler.
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