Saudi Arabia: Al Ula – Hegra aka Mada’in Saleh

The UNESCO World Heritage site of Mada’in Saleh or Hegra holds over 140 Nabatean tombs carved into rock walls and individual solo standing rock monoliths. The massive tombs were built by Nabataeans, the same civilization that built Petra in Jordan. In fact, Hegra was the second largest Nabatean city after Petra in the Nabataean kingdom. Most of the monumental tombs are from the 1st century AD, nearly 2000 years old! The rock-cut tombs occur in clusters, but the larges tomb – Al Hijr – is a free standing monolith. All tombs are elaborately carved with ornamented facades and interiors. The size of the tomb and ornamentation indicated the social status of the person buried. The views are stupendous and you really feel dwarfed but many of these structure, thousands of years old and yet so perfectly preserved by the dry desert climate and isolation.
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