Passing through the Bab-al-Yaman, the huge gate that allows access to the ancient walled city of Sanaa in Yemen, is like going through a portal to another world.
You see a lot of tall, slender buildings huddled in narrow alleys that connect lush fruit and vegetable gardens to the old souk (market) where donkeys are still sold.
I saw locksmiths mending huge metal keys that open imposing doors of wood; a vendor offering tunas with a cart, and the local baker who pulls fresh bread from a burning hole in the ground.
In a tiny room, a camel walked in circles driving a millstone that crushed sesame seeds.
But despite all that encouragement visual, it was undoubtedly architecture what that dominated aba the scene.
Sanaa is full of buildings that are different from what you can find anywhere else in the world.
On the street, where the monotony of the adobe walls is only interrupted by large wooden doors, there was often not much to see.
But looking up, I realized note that these slender buildings, some with only one or two rooms per floor, soar into the sky.
While the lower floors, at street level, had no windows due to their use as a shelter for animals or spaces working, the ornate windows above were covered by stained glass or delicate mashrabiya screens protecting the privacy of the women inside.
Buildings dating back more than 300 years
Window frames and friezes between Floors were marked with an intricate white lime to contrast the mud-colored background, creating an effect of gingerbread house .
Many had rooftop terraces, used as entertaining spaces, as well as outdoor bedrooms for warm nights.
The magnificence of The buildings, together with their simple practicality, gives rise to an insp irador architectural panorama.
From the alleys it was practically impossible to appreciate the true height of these buildings, but when I got to the souk, I could see that some were up to seven stories high.
I went up to a rooftop on the seventh floor that had been converted into a cafe; the old town was down, but the buildings around were mostly as tall as the one I was in, evoking the strange feeling of being surrounded by skyscrapers.
I could almost have felt in Dubai or New York, only these buildings had between 300 and 500 years and were made of clay.
Some of Yemen’s skyscrapers can reach up to 30 meters high. The first modern skyscrapers to be built in Chicago were only a couple of meters taller than these.
“The Manhattan of the desert”
Yemen is full of towering buildings similar to these. They are found in both the smallest and largest populations, such as the famous city of Shibam, which was nicknamed in the decade of 1930 “the Manhattan of the desert” by the Anglo-Italian explorer Dame Freya Stark.
Other example is the exquisitely decorated palace of Dar-al-Hajar, the “Rock Palace” .
The architectural style of Yemeni skyscrapers is so unique that the cities of Zabid, Shibam and the old city of Sanaa have been recognized as Unesco World Heritage Sites.
The tradition dates back to at least the 8th and 9th centuries, according to Trevor Marchand, professor of social anthropology at the London School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and author of Architectural Heritage of Yemen – Buildings That Fill My Eye.
The exact dating of the structures is almost impossible to know, as these adobe buildings need to be repaired or constantly restored to prevent them from succumbing.
But Marchand explains that some medieval sources tell us that Ghumdam Palace in Sanaa was Built in the 3rd century BC, it was the seat of the ancient Sabaean rulers of Yemen, it had 20 story tall and elaborately decorated.
Still in use
What makes Yemeni skyscrapers so unique is that they are still in use, just as they were. hundreds of years.
In the old town of Sanaa, for example, although some have been converted into hotels and cafes , most are still used as private residences.
“As children, we played soccer in the narrow alleys and as teenagers b We had coffee behind the shiny windows, ”says Arwa Mokdad, peace advocate for the Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation.
As I traveled the country, marveling at its skyscraper-filled cities, I couldn’t avoid wondering why Yemenis built like this, considering that the country has vast desert areas.
Salma Samar Damluji, architect and author of a book on Yemeni architecture and its reconstruction, explained to me that the construction of buildings was traditionally restricted to small sites, which forced to build vertically .
“The towns and cities had an outer wall, called South, and another limit in the desert.”
The architect also told me that the wall and the surrounding desert did not they only represented a barrier to any urban development, but any agriculturally viable space was also considered to be very valuable to take. narlo of buildings.
So building upwards, in tight clusters, was the preferred option.
To protect themselves from invading forces
There was also the need to protect themselves, which did that Yemen’s settlements were concentrated in certain places rather than spread out across the entire territory.
Urban planners considered that, living in an inhospitable desert, it was good to have the ability to look across throughout the lands to identify enemies when they approach and to be able to close the gates of the cities at night.
“An important factor that contributed to the development of ‘tower houses’ in Yemen was the need to be safe from invading forces, as well as in times of local tribal disputes or civil war, ”explains Marchand.
Built with natural materials, Yemeni skyscrapers are sustainable and are perfectly suited to the hot and dry climate of the Arab desert.
Rooftop terraces They function as open-air bedrooms, while the screens on the windows invite even the briefest breeze to enter the house, and at the same time allow light to enter but not too much heat.
“Adobe is an exceptional thermal mass,” adds Ronald Rael, professor of architecture at the University of California at Berkeley and a specialist in buildings made of mud.
Rael, who lives in his great-grandfather’s adobe house in southern Colorado, United States, explains that this material “ absorbs and releases heat slowly “.
” During the day, when the sun hits the par ie, the heat from the sun is slowly absorbed by the wall. As night falls, that heat is slowly released (helping) the earthen buildings to maintain a comfortable temperature ”, he continues.
This simple natural effect has made the adobe construction continue still popular today and justifies that the mud structures in Yemen still resist.
A almost extinct way of building
Incredibly, the builders generally did not use scaffolding.
The master builders started with a stone base, often about 2 meters deep, over which they laid mud bricks in a continuous bond.
Then they slowly built upwards, placing wooden beams for added strength and adding wood floors and palm materials as they climbed.
Scaffolding only They began to be used later, once the house was finished and needed a restoration.
S However, according to Damluji, these forms of construction are on the verge of extinction.
“We want structures that can resist up to 300 years and more. Six- and seven-story buildings built with sun-dried mud bricks is a way of construction that no contemporary architect can use today“.
To prevent this knowledge from being lost, Damluji works closely with the Dawan foundation, which strives to preserve these building methods, encouraging the use of traditional materials and methods over modern ones.
The existence of these historic buildings is also threatened by constant wind erosion, war and economic struggles that prevent families from taking adequate care of their fragile homes.
In 2020, Unesco examined about 8. 04 of these architectural wonders and restored 78 that were on the brink of collapse .
Unesco is doing what it can to save the As many buildings as possible, but it is difficult in the current circumstances.
“It is a heartbreaking experience to witness how history turns to rubble,” laments Mokdad.
“This destruction is a loss for all humanity.”
“In any other place, these buildings would be museum pieces But in Yemen they are still homes. I cannot describe the pride of living in a home preserved by generations of ancestors. They are our connection with the past ”, he concludes.
You can read the version original in English in BBC Travel .
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