Petra - The Garden Tomb

A flight of steps leads up to another terrace enclosed within steep cliffs – the head of Wadi Farasa.

On the left, looking back in the direction from which we have come, we see the Garden Temple (though its function is as yet uncertain) at the top of several steps, with a small cistern cut into the rock that forms the courtyard in front of it.

The simple façade of the monument, with two free-standing columns in the center, is flanked by two engaged pilasters. To the right is a substantial wall which seals off a natural cleft in the rock to form a vast cistern, plastered on the inside. It was part of a Nabataean water system, fed from springs in the eastern hills, and added to by other channels that collected run-off water in Jabal Madbah. It supplied the Wadi Farasa area of the ancient city.