Access to the most beautiful place on earth

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the Seven New Wonders of the World, and was described by Lawrence of Arabia as “the most beautiful place on earth”. This is Petra, capital of the Nabataeans of antiquity, who enjoyed their greatest prosperity during the 3rd century BC. The city is now located in Jordan and can only be reached through the Siq, a rock canyon more than one Kilometre long and up to 70 metres deep. At its most prominent point, it provides a view of Khazne al-Firaun, one of the grave temples dug out of the red sandstone. And a little later one comes upon the city with its numerous gates, temples and theatres.

Petra is one of the most important sights in the Middle East. Since construction of the visitor centre in front of the entrance to the Siq in the 1980s, visitor numbers have increased enormously and, for the first time, more than one million tourists visited it in 2019.

Since this year, the path to the city hewn out of rock has also led through turnstiles from Magnetic’s FlowMotion® series of models. Every day, each of the three mTripod units permits passage to more than 1,000 visitors with valid tickets. The gates were installed in collaboration with the Jordan IT specialists GCE Jordan, who were responsible for the booking and ticketing system. “We looked for systems that could cope with the high number of visitors,” explains the Project Leader. “Magnetic convinced us with their drive and control technology, proven more than one hundred thousand times over, and together with our ticket scanners we are able to monitor large numbers of people in a very short time.”

Installation of the gates and integration of the ticket readers took place without any problems in spring 2020. Since then, the three pedestrian gates have proven their reliability with trouble-free operation. Another special aspect to be highlighted is that it is wonderful to see how antique architecture and modern design come together and form a single harmonic entity. So we have built a suitable entrance for the most beautiful place on earth.

 

  • Customer: GCE Soft - Jordan
  • Installed products: 3 mTripod turnstiles
  • Commissioned: December 2020
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