Old City of Sana'a
Situated in a mountain valley at an altitude of 2,200 m, Sana’a has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years. In the 7th and 8th centuries the city became a major centre for the propagation of Islam. This religious and political heritage can be seen in the 103 mosques, 14 hammams and over 6,000 houses, all built before the 11th century. Sana’a’s many-storeyed tower-houses built of rammed earth (pisé) add to the beauty of the site.
Situated in a mountain valley at an altitude of 2,200 m, the Old City of Sana'a is defined by an extraordinary density of rammed earth and burnt brick towers rising several stories above stone-built ground floors, strikingly decorated with geometric patterns of fired bricks and white gypsum. The ochre of the buildings blends into the bistre-colored earth of the nearby mountains. Within the city, minarets pierce the skyline and spacious green bustans (gardens) are scattered between the densely packed houses, mosques, bath buildings and caravanserais.
Inhabited for more than 2,500 years, the city was given official status in the second century BC when it was an outpost of the Yemenite kingdoms. By the first century AD it emerged as a centre of the inland trade route. The site of the cathedral and the martyrium constructed during the period of Abyssinian domination (525-75) bear witness to Christian influence whose apogee coincided with the reign of Justinian. The remains of the pre-Islamic period were largely destroyed as a result of profound changes in the city from the 7th century onwards when Sana'a became a major centre for the spread of the Islamic faith as demonstrated by the archaeological remains within the Great Mosque, said to have been constructed while the Prophet was still living. Successive reconstructions of Sana'a under Ottoman domination beginning in the 16th century respected the organization of space characteristic of the early centuries of Islam while changing the appearance of the city and expanding it with a second city to the west. The houses in the old city are of relatively recent construction and have a traditional structure.
As an outstanding example of a homogeneous architectural ensemble reflecting the spatial characteristics of the early years of Islam, the city in its landscape has an extraordinary artistic and pictorial quality. Its many-storied buildings represent an outstanding response to defensive needs in providing spacious living quarters for the maximum number of residents within defensible city walls. The buildings demonstrate exceptional craftsmanship in the use of local materials and techniques. The houses and public buildings of Sana'a, which have become vulnerable as a result of contemporary social changes, are an outstanding example of a traditional, Islamic human settlement.
Described by historians, geographers and scholars of the early Islamic and medieval eras, Sana'a is associated with the civilizations of the Bible and the Koran.
The whole of Yemen formed a province in the empire of the Khalifate from A.d. 630 to 930; but in the latter year the people threw off the yoke of the Abbasides, and a descendant of 'Aly, with the title of Saifu-'llah (Sword of God) founded an independent dynasty of Imams of Yemen, who exercised all the prerogatives of Khalifahs within their territories. As Imam the ruler of Yemen was leader of the services in the mosque; as Amiru-'l-Muamanin he was lord of the Faithful, and his banner was the double-bladed sword of 'Aly on a red ground. He was of the sect of Zaidiyyah, followers of Zaid the son of'Aly, who, like the Shia'ahs, held that 'Aly had been unjustly superseded, but differed from them in several other respects. The capital of the Imamate of Yemen was at Sana'a, or a neighbouring town in the elevated mountain region, but the tribes of the Tihama were subject to the Imams, and Aden continued to flourish under their rule, as a great emporium of Indian trade.
In 1173 A.d. Turan Shah, a brother of the famous Saladin, the first Ayyubite Sultan of Egypt, invaded Yemen, and captured the town of Sana'a, as well as the ports on the coast. His lieutenant erected important fortifications at Aden, which are described by Varthema, and the ruins of which may still be seen. They consisted of five castles and two walls, one along the shore of Front Bay, and the other over the heights, so as completely to enclose the town. After the departure of the Egyptians, the country fell into a state of anarchy, until the genius of 'Amir-ibnu-'Abdu'l-Wahhab enabled him to force the numerous chiefs of tribes to submit to his sway, and he entered the capital in triumph, A.d. 1503. Another Imam, Malik Mansur, built mosques and colleges at Sana'a, Ta'iz, and Zabid, and repaired tanks and cisterns in all parts of the country.
The disappearance of the traditional juridical system or the application of new and supplementary ones, the accelerated social and economical changes, the rapid urban development within and around the city and the disappearance of open space as the bustans are gradually built over, are creating various unbearable pressures on the city and its inhabitants.
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