From 12,000 Years of Inhabitation to 4 Years of Tourism: The Story of This Place.
Hegra, an ancient city in northwestern Saudi Arabia, is gaining recognition as a tourist destination after being accessible to international visitors since 2019. Built between the first century BCE and the first century CE, Hegra includes an impressive necropolis with tombs carved into sandstone. The Nabateans, who inhabited the area, traded aromatics and their alphabet laid the foundations of modern Arabic. Visitors can also explore nearby historic sites of Dadan and Jabal Ikmah. With increased investment in archaeology, more information is coming out of Hegra and other Nabatean sites, and new discoveries are expected in the years to come.