Petra artefacts to be displayed at Sharjah exhibition

AMMAN — Some 55 artefacts from Petra will be on display in the UAE’s Sharjah next month to promote the Nabataean city, the Department of Antiquities said on Tuesday.

The artefacts are part of an exhibition, “Petra: Miracle in the desert”, launched in 2012 to mark 200 years since the rediscovery of the rose-red city, said Munther Jamhawi, the department’s director. In 2013, the exhibition travelled to Basel in Switzerland and Leiden in the Netherlands, he added.

Petra, one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, was rediscovered by Swiss explorer and orientalist Johann Ludwig Burckhardt in 1812. Jamhawi noted that the artefacts will be transported in accordance with international standards and handled carefully, supervised by the department’s employees.