Hegra

Hegra (also called Mada'in Salih) was the second-largest city of the Nabataean Kingdom after Petra, flourishing as a trading hub on the incense route between roughly the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE. More than 100 monumental tombs are carved into the sandstone outcrops surrounding the site, their facades decorated with eagles, sphinxes, and floral motifs in a style closely related to — but in better overall preservation than — the more famous tombs of Petra, 500 kilometres to the north. The site became Saudi Arabia's first UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008 and was opened to international tourism only from 2019 as part of the AlUla development project.

The site's Arabic name, Mada'in Salih ("Cities of Salih"), refers to the Quranic story of the Thamud people, who were said to have been destroyed by God for hamstringing a sacred she-camel sent as a sign by the prophet Salih. The Quran (Surah Al-Hijr) describes the Thamud as having "carved homes out of the mountains," a description matching the rock-cut tombs, and warns believers against lingering in the area. Citing this tradition, the Prophet Muhammad is reported in hadith to have instructed his companions, while passing through the region during the expedition to Tabuk in 630 CE, to cover their faces, hurry through, and not drink from its wells — an injunction that, for centuries, discouraged Muslim travellers and local Bedouin from settling at or excavating the site, contributing to its remarkable state of preservation.