7 Wonders of World

The City of Petra was hidden in the mountains of Jordan for thousands of years when a young Swiss explorer Johan Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered it in 1812. Temples, tombs, and other buildings are all carved out of the sandstone cliffs, wich also gives it the name the "rose red city". In the last scenes of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade the Treasury serves as a secret temple lost for hundreds of year.

And that is actually what it is. This place is impossible to capture in a normal still image. You have to visit it, or the next best - You can see it in a cubic QTVR as here in Greg Downings panorama made last year as an assignment for Intel. Greg visited some of the most famous places in the world during this assignment, but he describes the visit at Petra as the most memorable.

Tourist Attractions:

Obelisk Tomb: Obelisk Tomb, which once stood seven meters high. Five graves were found inside the tomb, four represented by pyramid-shaped pillars and the last by a statue between the middle pillars.

Al-Khazneh: One of the most elegant remains of antiquity, it is carved out of solid rock from the side of a mountain, and stands over 40 meters high.

Amphitheater: As the Siq turns right and leads down toward the city, the number of niches and tombs increases, becoming a virtual graveyard in rock arching around behind the 8000-seat Amphitheater.

Mausoleum of Sextus Florentinius: Around the corner to the right is the Mausoleum of Sextus Florentinius, a Roman administrator under Emperor Hadrian.

Temenos Gateway: At the northwestern end of the colonnaded street is the triple-arched Temenos Gateway, which was originally fitted with wooden doors and marked the entrance into the courtyard, or "temenos", of the Qasr al-Bint. To the right of the Temenos Gateway, or Triumphal Arch, is the Temple of the Winged Lions.