Silk Tomb

The Silk Tomb is defined by the swirling, multicolored sandstone facade that dominates its face. Unlike the sharp, precise carvings found elsewhere in Petra, the erosive forces of nature have bled the mineral veins of the cliffside into patterns resembling draped, dyed silk. King Aretas the Fourth likely commissioned this monumental grave in the first century, intending it to signal his dynasty's reach. The sheer height of the facade dwarfs anyone standing beneath it, carved directly into the mountain to command the canyon.