Colonnaded Street

The Colonnaded Street is marked by a line of stone columns that rise from the center of Petra’s ancient valley floor. During the second century, Roman engineers straightened and paved this path, replacing an earlier, winding Nabataean track that had followed the course of the Wadi Musa. This transformation turned a six-meter-wide thoroughfare into a bustling marketplace, lined with rows of shops that once traded spices, textiles, and frankincense from across the ancient world.