PETRA and KWAN YIN

Ma’an, Jordan

Image

1. Kwan Yin

Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges. An ingenious water management system allowed extensive settlement of an essentially arid area during the Nabataean, Roman and Byzantine periods. It is one of the world's richest and largest archaeological sites set in a dominating red sandstone landscape. en.unesco.org

2. Tomes of Petra

GEOGRAPHY

The ancient Silk Road runs from China, through Jordan and on to Europe and Northern Africa. One of the major sub-routes of the Silk Road runs from Gaza to Jerusalem and then to the Treasury of Petra. The seat of the Nabataean Kingdom was Petra, around the first century, and was literally carved by hand by the Nabataean (Southern Arabs) from the red-rose cliffs of Southern Jordan. Petra’s monuments have been chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. Here, high red-stone walls are carved into strikingly beautiful and detailed tombs, cathedrals and monasteries. There are over 800 rock-cut monuments here in Petra.

  • 3. The Silk Road (click to enlarge)
  • 4. Landscape of Silk Dress
  • 5. Petra Comes into View (click to enlarge)
But from the rock as if from magic grown, eternal, silent, beautiful, alone.John William Burgon, 1845

PETRA

The most familiar of these tombs may be the great facade of Al Khazneh, the most lavish and beautiful of Petra's tombs, created in the first century BC. It is the first structure that a visitor see’s, as they emerge from the high, narrow rock walls of the Siq. In spite of the tomb’s name it is not a Treasury, but rather the grandest tomb in all of Petra. Farthest from the main gate of Petra, an hour’s climb northwest, there is another monument, the Monastery of Al Deir. To reach it one must climb 1000 great steps. Two-thirds of the way up the stairs flows a spring, welcoming visitors with the gift of water.

  • 6. Rock Walls of the Siq
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OVERVIEW

9. Hand of Kwan Yin

Just 6 miles south of the monasteries is a beautifully detailed landscape of Kwan Yin, measuring 2.5 miles long and at an altitude of 3600 feet. The spiritual teachings epitomized by Kwan Yin, Buddhist Goddess of Mercy and Compassion, disseminated far beyond the borders of China over the Silk Road and beyond. It’s understandable that her grand image is here in the Jordan Treasury. The detail of Kwan Yin’s sculpture is astonishingly clear, so much so that it is possible to see the fine details of her hand and fingers. Here, her pointer finger and thumb are touching, simulating the mudra known as the Gyan Mudra of Knowledge. This specific mudra is thought to foster peace, calm and spiritual progress.

KWAN YIN

Petra reveals another image of Kwan Yin, depicting her effigy as a portrait in stone. Her headdress, face and shoulders stand 6000 feet tall at the foot of the visitor’s center. On the map the name Petra 'rests' on her shoulders. This faint sculpture is, perhaps, the oldest sculpture in all of Petra. She is bounded to the north by the City of Tafilah, by Petra to the west, and the great City of Ma’an, (meaning veiled) 35 miles east. In this landscape Kwan Yin is gazing out across the vast, arid desert in the direction of Ma’an.

10: Hover to see Kwan Yin

11. Mountain faces point the way

LANDSCAPE

Just one mile West of the Kwan Yin sculpture and next to the Valley of Petra is a large group of faces huddled together. At the bottom center of this group landscape is a man encircling his own eye looking out, at we the viewers. And, toward the top of this group is a single hand with one finger pointing northward toward the Treasury of Petra. As with Kwan Yin, this particular Google Historical Imagery file, captured by Digital Globe satellite and Google earth in 2014, has been retired.

HOW TO LOCATE THE LANDSCAPE

Finding landscapes is a matter of patiently searching small areas of your map at varyingly levels of altitude. Some landscapes are only 500 feet in length while others are a phenomenal 2,000 miles in length. The larger the landscape the farther away you have to be to see it. Check places that you have always liked to go, as familiarity can help you see the unseen. There is one more consideration, not all landscapes are found right side up!

DIRECTIONS FOR FINDING: Petra

  1. Using Google earth Pro, go to Coordinates 30’20’13.46 N by 35’26’34.02 E
  2. Check elevation so as to be 57 miles eye altitude. Image 5,860 feet in length.
  3. Original Historical Imagery of date 10/19/2014 has been retired. Other imagery dates available.
  4. Compass should point North.
  1. Silk Road: Google earth Map 2014
  2. Koenigsgraeber Petra: Saturn83 wikivoyage shared; CC BY-SA 3.0
  3. Silk Road China-bigstockphoto-126703190
  4. Silk Road, China: bei Kizil-Google earth Map 2014
  5. Overview of Petra: Leon petrosyan-own work; File: Petra-5.JPG; CC BY-SA 3.0;
  6. View on Al Khazneh from al-Siq, Petra, Jordan; Bernard Gagnon-own work; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
  7. Al Khazneh-the Treasury with Camel: bigstockphoto-122601899 by Sid 10
  8. Monastery Ad-Deir Nabataean; bigstockphoto-143746130.jpg
  9. Kwan Yin: Google earth Map 2014
  10. Ancient Kwan Yin: Google earth Map 2014
  11. Faces in Petra: Goggle earth Map 2014