On the territory of Saudi Arabia, right in the middle of the desert, there is a unique structure of its kind.
We are talking about a tomb carved into the rock, which has the poetic name “Lonely Palace”. And although at first glance it seems that there are many buildings carved into the rock, this one is really different from the others. Firstly, it remained unfinished, and
secondly, it is part of the huge architectural complex of Madain Salih, which dates back to the 1st century AD, that is, the period of the existence of the ancient Nabataean kingdom on the territory of Saudi Arabia. In total, the complex includes 111 burial structures carved into rock, as well as 20 buildings of other kinds. In 2008, the Madain Salih complex was included in the UNESCO list, becoming the first world heritage site from Saudi Arabia.
The original name of the Lonely Palace tomb is Qasr al-Farid. The structure is quite large: its height corresponds to the height of a modern four-story building. And, apparently, the person for whom the tomb was built had a fairly high social status - the "Lonely Palace" is one of the largest tombs found in the region.
Perhaps it is for this reason that the structure is located quite far from any other structures. At the same time, next to Qasr al-Farid there are several similar untouched stone blocks, which could also become the foundation for similar buildings.
Qasr al-Farid can be called a structure quite typical for the period of its creation. The civilization of the Nabataean kingdom actively practiced carving external elements, as well as full-fledged buildings, into huge blocks of sandstone. However, the “Lonely Palace” still has a number of distinctive features that distinguish it from dozens of other buildings in the Madain Salih architectural complex.
Archaeologists are sure that the tomb was not completely finished, which is why it only has a front facade. In addition, the researchers were able to find out that Qasr al-Farid was carved from top to bottom - that is, the builders climbed to the top of a huge rock and began work, gradually going down, and only from one side of the block.
The most striking fact about Qasr al-Farid is this: despite the fact that the structure is a tomb, no one was ever buried there. Archaeologists, exploring the building, found a burial chamber inside, which, like the structure itself, was never completed. In addition, the unique precision of the geometric shapes and the overall scale of the structure have yet to be studied, because neither the mechanism for carving such impressive objects nor the tools that the builders could use are yet known for certain.
