Ad Deir

Ad Deir ("The Monastery"; Arabic: الدير ), also spelled ad-Dayr and el-Deir, is a monumental building carved out of rock in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra.Arguably one of the most iconic monuments in the Petra Archaeological Park, the Monastery is located high in the hills northwest of the Petra city center. It is the second most commonly visited monument in Petra, after Al Khazneh, the "Treasury".The rock-cut facade of the Monastery is 45 meters high and 50 meters wide.  The structure was first constructed in 3 BCE as a monumental Nabataean tomb. An inscription that was found on one of the walls while the monument was being cleaned in 1991, read "the symposium of Obodas, the god". This inscription indicates that the building may originally have been dedicated to the Nabataean king, Obodas I, who was likely deified posthumously.
The tomb has several incised crosses carved into the wall, which may indicate that the structure was reused as a church during the Byzantine period.
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