Petra exhibit unites United States, Jordan

CINCINNATI, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- An ancient Petra exhibit in Cincinnati unites Jordanian cultural relics with U.S. collections for the first major art collaboration between the nations.

"Petra: Lost City of Stone," which opened Tuesday at the Cincinnati Art Museum, represents 10 years of planning and $1 million spent to bring together major archeological artifacts from 100 B.C. to 600 B.C., as well as 19th century paintings and drawings created after Petra was rediscovered in 1812, the Cincinnati Post reported.

The traveling exhibit, a cooperative venture between the Cincinnati museum and New York's American Museum of Natural History, features artwork displayed outside of Jordan for the first time.

The exhibit combines many pieces from Jordan's museums, Cincinnati Art Museum's renowned Petra collection, American Museum of Natural History's artifacts and relics from the Louvre in Paris.

The idea for the Petra exhibit began when Queen Noor, stepmother of Jordan's King Abdullah II, visited Cincinnati in 1994, said Glenn Markoe, the show's curator.

Jordan's Queen Rania, the official patron of the project, opened the show last October in New York.