The temple housing the Holy Grail is Al-Khazneh — the Treasury — at Petra in southern Jordan. Indy rides through a narrow gorge and the façade appears at the end of it, which is precisely the experience of arriving at Petra in real life: the Siq, a 1.2-kilometre crack in the sandstone, opens without warning onto the most famous carved façade in the world.
What the film adds is everything behind it. In reality Al-Khazneh has one modest chamber cut into the rock and nothing else. The vaulted halls, the traps, the knight and the grail chamber were all built at Elstree Studios in England.
What Al-Khazneh actually is
Petra was the capital of the Nabataean kingdom, an Arab trading people who controlled the incense and spice routes and grew wealthy enough to carve a city out of the rock from roughly the fourth century BC. Al-Khazneh dates from around the first century AD and is generally thought to be a royal tomb, possibly of the king Aretas IV.
The name Treasury comes from a much later Bedouin belief that a pharaoh's treasure was hidden in the stone urn at the top of the façade — which is why the urn is pocked with bullet damage from people trying to break it open.
The façade is around 40 metres high and cut top-down directly into the cliff face, a technique that leaves no room for correction. Behind it is a large plain central chamber with a few smaller side rooms, and nothing else — no carving to match the exterior, no deeper structure. Visitors were able to enter until 1997; access is now closed to protect the interior from moisture, handling and overcrowding, though you can still look in from the doorway.
The Siq, and the shot
The approach that the film uses is Petra's real entrance. The Siq is a natural fault in the sandstone, narrow enough in places that two people can barely pass, winding for over a kilometre with walls up to 180 metres high, and still showing the Nabataean water channels cut along its sides.
The reveal at the end — the façade appearing in a sliver of light — is not a director's invention. It is how the site works, and the Nabataeans almost certainly designed the approach for exactly that effect.
Spielberg shot the exterior sequences at Petra in 1988. The tank chase and the desert sequences of the film's third act were filmed in Almería in Spain, and the Venice sequences in Venice.
The rest of Petra, which most visitors miss
Al-Khazneh is the first major monument you reach and the one everybody photographs, but the site is enormous — a whole city of tombs, a Roman-era theatre cut into the rock seating several thousand, a colonnaded street, temples and a Byzantine church with mosaics.
Ad-Deir, the Monastery, is a larger façade than the Treasury and sits at the top of around 800 rock-cut steps, roughly an hour's climb from the centre. Far fewer people make it, and it is the better experience for that.
Petra deserves at least a full day and rewards two. The one-hour version — walk the Siq, photograph the Treasury, walk back — is the most common way to see it and the least satisfying.
Visiting the location
- Where
- Al-Khazneh, Petra Archaeological Park, Wadi Musa, Ma'an Governorate, Jordan.
- Getting there
- The town of Wadi Musa sits at the park entrance, about three hours from Amman and two from Aqaba by road. From the visitor centre it is a walk of roughly 20–30 minutes through the Siq to the Treasury.
- Access
- Ticketed archaeological park with daily opening hours. The Jordan Pass, bought before arrival, bundles the entry fee with the tourist visa and is usually the cheaper route. You cannot enter the Treasury itself.
- Arrive at opening. The Siq is quiet, the light on the façade is better and the walk is cool.
- Buy the Jordan Pass before you fly — it covers the visa and Petra together and saves a significant amount.
- Allow a full day minimum, and climb to Ad-Deir if you have the legs for 800 steps.
- Petra by Night runs on some evenings with the Siq lit by candles; it is atmospheric but crowded and does not replace a daytime visit.
Frequently asked questions
Can you go inside the Indiana Jones temple at Petra?
No. Entry was permitted until 1997 and is now closed for conservation, though you can look in from the doorway. There would be little to see in any case — Al-Khazneh is a plain chamber with a few side rooms, and every interior in the film was a set built at Elstree Studios.
Where is the canyon Indiana Jones rides through?
The Siq, Petra's natural entrance gorge — a fault in the sandstone over a kilometre long that opens directly onto the Treasury façade.
How much time do you need at Petra?
A full day at an absolute minimum. The site is a whole Nabataean city, and the Treasury is only the first monument you reach.
Where else was The Last Crusade filmed?
Venice for the catacombs and canal scenes, Almería in Spain for the desert and tank sequences, and Elstree Studios in England for the Grail temple interiors.