Yemen ancient skyscrapers. art history
With this article, the site for curious travelers continues a series of materials called "Yemen before the war." The ideas of the "Western world" about Yemen, the Yemeni way of life and national character are appallingly far from reality. Yemen in general is a special world, in some ways it has not changed at all since the Middle Ages, in some ways capable of striking a “civilized” person, a native of the world of “Western values”.
The fourth material of the series is about the ancient city of adobe skyscrapers Shibam.
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Water, clay, straw and sand are all they need. These people make Madar Thein, the famous clay bricks. It is from these that the Yemeni Shibam, the ancient city of clay skyscrapers, was built.
Clay with sand and straw has been kneaded in the Yemeni Hadhramawt Valley since time immemorial. Clay bricks, or Mader Thane, are the main local building material. It is considered much more reliable and stronger than cement.
SHIBAM, YEMEN: Clay bricks with straw stacked for sale in a factory. © Dmitry Chulov. Making Madar Tein is hard work. They start kneading madara from the very dawn and work until exhaustion. Otherwise, good bricks will not work. If the mixture came out too liquid, sand and straw are added to it again. Sand is brought from the bottom of the river flowing nearby.
Harama, worker: « We mix sand, clay and straw, add a lot of water and lay it out in a mold so that future bricks dry in the sun ... "
His shift starts early in the morning and continues until noon. Then it becomes too hot, and there is no more strength left.
SHIBAM, YEMEN: View of multicolored lime-covered buildings in the city's main square. Shibam is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. © Dmitry Chulov. Harama, worker:“Bricks must dry for at least three days, then they become strong and can be transported.”
The workers are paid four dollars a day, and the open-air factory employs eight people. In six hours, Omar's team manages to make three thousand bricks. The profit is small, but the demand is constant. On the ground floor of a large house, buyers take five thousand bricks. Even by Yemeni standards, this is very cheap, but the orders to the factory are guaranteed for years to come: the inhabitants of Hadhramaut do not really trust modern materials.
Harama, worker: « Clay bricks are much better than concrete. In such a hot climate as ours, walls made of clay are stronger, heat up less, and living in a clay house is much more comfortable!
Residents of the Yemeni Hadhramaut valley began to allow themselves to be filmed quite recently. It was once believed that photography takes away a piece of life from a person, and the more you are photographed, the less you will have to live. In the deaf Yemeni villages, they are still sure of this.
SHIBAM, YEMEN: Workers work at a huge oven. © Dmitry Chulov Huge palm trunks and tree branches. On duty all week, not sleeping day and night, without stopping, throwing firewood. If there is an underworld somewhere on Earth, then it is right here. It is so hot from the stove that even just standing next to it is impossible. And this is at an air temperature above 42 degrees in the shade! Here people burn stones.
Khalid, foreman: "We just put stones in the oven and light a fire to heat them properly.”
The main decoration of houses in the Hadhramaut Valley is slaked lime, which reflects the heat of the mercilessly scorching sun and does not let moisture through. Burnt stones are simply filled with water. So the lime "nura" is born.
Ancient Shibam often suffers from floods. To protect the walls of houses from Hadhramaut water, they are covered with lime. It is made in workshops such as this one in the town of Tarim in the vicinity of Seiun.
SHIBAM, YEMEN: A worker near a kiln wearing a traditional Yemeni headscarf wipes sweat from his face. © Dmitry Chulov. For Khalid Mehsin and his brothers Saleh and Omar, this is a family business. Incomes are small, but a lot of energy and health is wasted. Technology has not changed for hundreds of years.
Saleh Mehsin, master: « Burnt stones must be cleaned and filled with water. When the lime sizzles and cools, the mixture must be mixed and packaged. It's called "nura".
Burnt stones - jir hagari, calcium carbonate - turn into nuru on their own, hissing, heating up and emitting an unbearable stench for several hours. Acrid smoke burns the lungs. Breathing it is unbearable. This is no longer a fiery, but a snow-white hell with lime-stained walls. The faces of the workers are covered with handkerchiefs, and yet they are all stained with lime.
Saleh Mehsin, master: « Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers worked at this factory for many generations. Now we are working. We make good news…”
Ready, still wet product they lay out in bags. And so another day goes by. And tomorrow everything will happen again: broken stones, water, hissing lime and unbearable heat and stench. But more important for the Mehsin brothers is that thanks to their work, the clay houses of the Hadhramaut valley look beautiful!
This city is proudly called the "Manhattan of the Desert". True, he appeared long before the New York Manhattan, which in those days still did not exist. 300 years after the birth of Christ, he was already the capital of the Yemeni Hadhramaut. Today Shibam is five hundred clay skyscrapers almost forty meters high.
SHIBAM, YEMEN: Goats run through empty city streets. Shibam is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. © Dmitry Chulov. Houses in Shibam taper towards the top - so these skyscrapers will last longer. They are built of mud bricks and their roofs are painted with white nura. Sheep roam the streets of Shibam, just like centuries ago. And upstairs are ... satellite TV dishes.
Once every few years, these houses have to be restored. Rains wash away the walls, and they need to be updated. It seems that living in clay skyscrapers is dangerous and uncomfortable. But those who were born or moved to Shibam say they will never leave it. More than five thousand people live in the ancient city. And Shibam's population is growing...
Omar, a resident of the city of Shibam: « I am 26 years old, I have been living in Shibam since birth, my father was also born here. I love this city and I love living in it!”
The house was bought by his grandfather, and now it is the oldest skyscraper in the city - it is 750 years old! In his shop, Omar sells all sorts of things to rare tourists and does not complain about life. In peacetime, when UNESCO joined the Shibam conservation project, there were more buyers.
Omar, a resident of the city of Shibam: « We love that our houses are in such a state. Thank God that Germany is helping us with money. After all, we receive a third of the funds for their repair directly from the German budget!
SHIBAM, YEMEN: Air-conditioned adobe "skyscraper" exterior wall. © Dmitry Chulov. Money appeared - the benefits of civilization appeared. Today, Omar's clay skyscraper has running water, electricity, and just about everything a family of eleven needs to live. They only complain that there is no elevator, so you have to run on foot to the sixth floor three or four times a day ...
Muhammad is in his seventies and has four sons and three daughters. Until 1967, he was the head of the security service of the Sultan Al-Kaeti. After retiring, he moved to Shibam. Having lived in a clay city for forty years, he says that he will never exchange it for anything.
Mohammed, a resident of the city of Shibam:“No, living in Shibam is not difficult, it is even comfortable here. 'Cause it's amazing ancient city»!
Before sunset, in peacetime, men gathered in the main square of Shibam - mature men and respectable elders. Play dominoes, drink tea, smoke hookah, chew khat and talk. So here passed every day for many centuries in a row. Maybe this is the eternal pulse of the Manhattan desert - an amazing city of clay skyscrapers? Civil War clearly interrupted the flow of peaceful life in this city. But shooting and bloody inter-clan strife in Yemen is a common thing, sooner or later life in the main square of the city of Shibam will return to normal. I only wish that before that, the ancient adobe skyscrapers, included in the UNESCO World Heritage List, still did not blow up, bombed and razed to the ground ...
New York, Dubai, Shanghai, Moscow… What do all these cities have in common? Of course - the world-famous skyscrapers! Skyscrapers, from which the head goes around, are a symbol of any modern city! However, few people know that the first high-rise buildings did not appear in America or Europe, but in the middle of the desert - in Asia! Shibam in the Republic of Yemen today it is customary to call « the oldest city skyscrapers in the world" or "Desert Manhattan"!
The uniqueness of the city is that skyscrapers were built here for the first time on earth - buildings up to 30 meters high. High-rise buildings were built of clay bricks, close to each other, so that they formed something like a fortress. Even today you can get into this city only through one gate, so Shiban is quite reminiscent of an ancient defensive structure that protected local residents from Bedouin raids.
Most of the buildings were built in the 16th century and still function today. Today, the unique architecture of the city is included in the UNESCO World Heritage Program, tourists can see more than 500 houses, the height of which is from 6 to 11 floors! On each floor there is an apartment for one family. There are no windows on the first floors, there are granaries and premises for livestock, on the middle floors there are living rooms, above there are kitchens and bedrooms. The upper floor (mafraj) is reserved for men. Many houses are connected by passages: they used to be used for communication during the war, and now they are used by elderly people who get tired of walking up endless stairs.
About 7,000 people live in the city. Time does little to change the appearance of Shibam: the walls of the houses, covered with whitewash, still turn white, as they did hundreds of years ago. The only traces of civilization are satellite dishes and air conditioners on clay walls.
However, do not forget that nature is not always favorable to people, and if the desert gave life to Shibam, it destroyed it before Kolmanskop. This one, until recently, was flourishing and inhabited, and over the past 50 years it has turned into a ghost town.
Article by Jean Francois Breton in MIMAR 18: Architecture in Development. Singapore: Concept Media Ltd., 1985. Much has changed, but the value of this article is indisputable in terms of studying Yemeni architecture.
Shibam and Wadi Hadhramaut
Text and photographs by Jean Francois Breton.
Drawings by Christian Darles.
[Translation and comments mine]
The main view of Shibam. The city is surrounded by palm groves and irrigation fields. On the south bank of the Hadhramaut wadi is the suburb of al-Sakhir.
Below on the right are adobe summer houses of wealthy Shibam families.
The city of Shibam is located on a ledge of a mountain that juts out into the bed of the wadi [see dictionary] Hadhramawt. This city is a vivid example of clay architecture, symbolizing the traditions of the South Yemeni people. Trapezoidal in plan, the city is located on an area measuring 250 meters from north to south and 380 meters from east to west. The high facades of closely standing houses rise 20-25 meters in height. This is the only city in Yemen fortified in this way, and it takes the origins of its defensive system from the pre-Islamic kingdoms (5th century BC - 5th century AD). The ancient city of Najran was also fortified with closely spaced wooden houses based on a high stone base.
The intersection of most streets determines the location of the most important places in the city: squares, mosques (at the time of writing there were 7) and public buildings. Each quarter of Shibam has its own mosque. [For example, in Sana'a in the old city, the mosques are arranged according to the same principle (1)].
Within the walls are concentrated 500 tall houses with 8 thousand people [This is the figure at the time of writing. Now, according to statistics, about 10 thousand people live in the city (2003) (2)]. The tallest building has 8 floors and is about 30 meters high. Most other houses have an average of 5 or 6 floors. Houses belonging to wealthy citizens are located in the western district, rising 10 meters above the level of the city gates. The poorer population lives near the souk and around the Harum al-Rashid mosque [There is a second name - the Jami mosque. The mosque was built in 753 and rebuilt in the 14th century. This is the only fired brick building in Shibam. The mosque has two minarets: one was built simultaneously with the reconstruction of the mosque in the 14th century, and the second, which is in use now, in the 16th century]. The lowest point of the city is adjacent to the city gates, where the old palace of the Sultan, a new supermarket and a school are located.
On the left is a map of the NDRY (South Yemen). On the right is a map of the valley of Wadi Hadhramaut
General plan of the city
View of Shibam from the southwest. A natural hill protects the city from periodic high water and floods in the Hadhramawt Wadi.
Left: Shibam from the northwest. This is the highest point of the city, rising 10 meters above the level of the city gates and 20 meters above the level of the wadi. The richest houses of Shibam, built in 1880-1920, are located here.
Right: East side of Shibam. The closely standing houses form additional protection behind the city wall. In this area, houses are 15-20 meters high instead of 25-30 in the southern part.
The reasons why Shibam's houses are so tall are varied. The city is located along the border of two sultanates: Kuaiti and Kasiri, which were constantly at enmity. The inhabitants of Shibam sought shelter and protection in the heights of their houses in pre-Islamic times. In Shabwa, the formal capital of Hadhramawt, tall buildings also partly played a defensive role. The houses of Shibam look like towers (husn [see dictionary]): the lower floor has no windows, but they have openings like slits. Tower-type houses are also found in the Hadhramaut countryside [Another type of such buildings are watchtowers in the fields of landowners (3)]. Rising to the sky, these houses of Shibam are a symbol of prosperity and well-being. In the second half of the 17th century, part of the city's inhabitants immigrated to Singapore, Malaysia, Java (Batavia [Jakarta]) and southern India. However, most of these settlers returned between 1820 and 1870. in Shibam. All the money earned abroad was spent on construction. In Shibam, the prestige of the family is expressed in the construction of a tall house. In Tarim, located 50 km east of Shibam, wealthy citizens build large two-three-story houses decorated in the Indonesian style.
Western part of Shibam. In a palm grove outside the city wall is the small mosque of al-Kabub, presumably built in the 18th century.
Each house in Shibam is a detached residence with one single entrance. If there is a second door, then it leads to the store. Each house is isolated from the next. [I met the opinion of German researchers about connecting houses with balconies. That it seems like this allowed during the defense of the city to move freely between the houses.] The main facade faces either the street or the square. The back part with the sewer goes out to the yard.
The houses are built of mud-brick, covered on the outside with a mixture of earth and straw. Sometimes wooden beams are inserted into the walls for reinforcement. The walls narrow at the top. But the interior rooms look without space deformation [During construction, the interior walls (3) are the vertical reference point]. The houses have a flat roof surrounded by a parapet forming a terrace. These terraces are covered with a special compound for water resistance - ramad. It is made by mixing lime, wood ash and a mixture of coarse and fine sand. Ramad also closes cracks and delaminations.
With careful use, such a house can last 2-3 centuries. The oldest house of Abdullah bin Faqiq is dated by the inscription above the door in 1609. Most of the houses were built between 1880-1915.
In recent decades, the city of Shibam has not been as prosperous as Seiyun, the new capital of the Hadhramaut Valley. Big number homes in Shibam for this reason look abandoned, their owners unable to cope with the extremely rapid increase in house costs. More than 30 houses (out of 500) are now in ruins. Madrasa al-Hara and her houses are partly destroyed.
Left: A narrow street between tall houses in the center of Shibam. Water from street drains, as a rule, is collected in an open and stone-lined sewer. One of the main objectives of the conservation program is the installation of a unified drainage and sewer system in the city that can prevent the mud houses from wearing out quickly.
Right: Beautiful wooden carved window (mushrabiya) in a wealthy residential building in Shibam. Unfortunately, such carvings are no longer made and are being replaced by ordinary glass.
An abandoned house in Karat Abd al-Aziz, two miles north of Shibam. Due to the untimely renewal of ramad, large cracks appeared on the house. Downpours and floods are also the main cause of destruction. In Shibam, more than 45 houses (out of 500) are in a state of severe deterioration or other serious damage.
Much of the city wall is also in need of restoration. Because of the damage, and mainly because of the lack of money for repairs, the city's sewer system fell into disrepair. The current open drainage system is connected to an underground pipe network that does not meet modern requirements, which leads to undermining of the foundations of houses. In addition, extensive destruction led in 1982 to the capacity of the Masa dam, located 7 km west of Shibam.
As a result, the South Yemeni authorities conducted preliminary studies. From 1980 to 1984, foreign missions and individual experts worked in South Yemen ( The results of the preliminary study are published by Jean Franck Breton and Christian Darles in the book “Storia della Citta”, No. 14, 1980. Dr. R.B. Leukok, during his mission from 1980 to 1983, collected significant material, which was published by UNESCO. In 1985, measurements of buildings were made, which made it possible to construct a Shibam model (at a scale of 1:300) for the Yemeni cultural center. The photography program is planned for two years.). In December 1982, a UNESCO committee included Shibam and Wadi Hadhramaut in the World Heritage List. At the end of 1984, the Director-General of UNESCO made a statement on behalf of the people of Shibam and Hadhramawt calling for help in preserving their cultural heritage.
At first, the project will focus on priority works: reconstruction of the Musa dam and its bank walls, implementation of a comprehensive drainage system in Shibam and improving the city's water supply. Already underway research work in the development of stages of reconstruction of the Musa dam.
One of the palaces of the al-Kaf family in Tarim, 30 miles from Shibam. The huge house in Tarim is massive, square in plan with a number of high windows, slightly elongated upwards. Elements of significant Southeast Asian influence in the 19th century can be seen both in the exterior of this building and in the interiors of the palace.
Interior of a large house in Tarim. The ceiling, columns and beams-beams are covered with a mud solution, a paint layer is applied on top in soothing colors, which, in turn, is painted again with more saturated colors. The columns are made of stone and palm trunks. Doors, as usual, are made in Singapore or on the island of Java, because. own timber in Hadhramawt is not enough
The Hadhramaut authorities partially reconstructed the city wall. The long-term restoration program also includes the installation of sewerage in every Shibam house. If possible, it is planned to use local technologies that are possible in Hadhramaut (for example, the airport in Seiyun was built in the local traditions of mud-brick construction), but this action increases the cost of the work. Based on this, an experiment is likely to provide a lower cost by mixing techniques and crushing materials (like ramad [see dictionary]).
The restoration project also includes several important sites in the Hadhramawt Wadi: Tarim (city walls), Seiyun (Friday Mosque), al-Mashad (tombs) and Bor (Abd Allah Mosque). Designed as a comprehensive program of integral regional development, this project will seek to bring something new to the lives of the Hadhramauts through the coordination of activities in various fields cultural life.
This project also needs to provide three aspects:
1 - the establishment of new Shibamu benefits for the restoration of the city;
2 - means for the proper operation of the old city in the foreseeable future.
3 - funds for the restoration of the main buildings in other cities.
The first step is estimated at $60 million, the second is $10 million annually for 50 years, and the third is $30 million. The involvement of various sponsors will be fully justified by the significance of this endangered architecture for the Arab culture as a whole.
The minaret of the main mosque in al-Huraid is made of mud. This mosque is famous for being built by an Indian architect in the late 19th century. It adjoins the tomb of the donor and creator of the local Koran school.
Inat, east of the Tarim, was one of famous cities Hadramaut.
The mausoleum of Sheikh Abu Bakr as well as the tombs of the other six saints are visited by many pilgrims. Such white domes are typical of Hadhramaut architecture.
The city of Qabr Hood is located 70 miles east of Shibam in the Hadhramaut valley. The city, built around the tomb of Nabi Alla Huda, is filled with inhabitants only three days a year during the pilgrimage. The photo shows a supermarket and in the foreground is a white fountain for ablutions.
Jean Francois Breton(Jean-Fracois Breton), French archaeologist, worked in South Yemen for many years. He is a member of the international committee for the conservation of Shibam. [He is known to the general Russian-speaking public as the author of the book “The Daily Life of Happy Arabia in the Time of the Queen of Sheba. 8th century BC - I century AD", M., 2003]
Christian Darles(Christian Darles), a French architect who took part in a mission in South Yemen and who collected illustrative material on the architecture of the region.
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Glossary of terms:
wadi- the Arabic name for dry riverbeds or river valleys, during heavy rains and floods filled with water.
Madras- Islamic religious school.
Husn- a fortress, a house, of a defensive type, outwardly resembling a fortress tower. The term is used in Shibam, Abyan.(4)
ramad- ash obtained from the kiln and specially purified after the firing of lime stones. Mixed with nurah and sand, it is used as a sealant and moisture barrier in foundations and to protect floor surfaces and steps and moisture-prone areas (currently cement is used instead of ramad). The term is used in Shibam, Hadrmouth. yemen_ru
The city of Shibam is located on the Wadi Hadhramaut River in Hadhramaut Governorate in the middle of the north-central Ramlat al-Sabatain desert. In terms of the city has the shape of a rectangle. Through Shibam there is a road connecting the western and eastern parts of the country.
THE OLDEST SKYSCRAPERS IN THE WORLD
The inhabitants of Shibam almost two millennia ago found a great way to provide themselves with spacious housing and reliable protection from Bedouin raids. Instead of ordinary houses, they began to build multi-storey clay towers.
The city of Shibam is located on the Wadi Hadhramaut River in Hadhramaut Governorate in the middle of the Ramlat al-Sabatain desert in central Yemen. It is assumed that it was founded about two thousand years ago: the first mention of Shibam dates back to the 3rd century BC. The city was built on a trade route through South Arabia, along which caravans of spice and incense merchants passed.
Once the city served as the capital of the Hadhramaut state, which was formed at the turn of the second-first millennium BC. e. and was annexed to the Himyarite kingdom in the 4th century. n. e. The transfer of the capital of the kingdom to Shibam occurred after the former chief
the city of Hadramut - Shabwa - was destroyed. During its centuries-old history, Shibam managed to visit the capital of the possessions of many rulers who succeeded each other in an endless struggle for power.
Shibam is a unique architectural complex, the creators of which anticipated trends in construction in the twentieth century. The city was built in open space without natural protective barriers in the form of rocks and mountains in the immediate vicinity. Therefore, the houses themselves, built on a limited area enclosed by a wall, became a defensive fortress in it (the current wall dates back to the 16th century). A feature of the layout of Shibam was the vertical orientation of buildings.
Multi-storey buildings, reminiscent of modern skyscrapers, were built close to each other, forming an almost insurmountable barrier to enemies (the Bedouins, who periodically raided cities in the desert, were a particular danger to the inhabitants of Shibam). You can enter the territory of Shibam through the only city gates, from which a wide avenue stretches, crossing the entire city. Narrower streets branch off from the main road, barely two meters wide in places. Meanwhile, the townspeople themselves could move around Shibam without going down to the ground: in case of an attack, some houses were provided with communicating balconies.
Madar served as the building material for the construction of all residential buildings in Shibam without exception. It is a brick made by hand from clay and straw, baked in the sun for several days. After the bricks were built into a tower, its walls were painted with limestone whitewash, which was made by heating limestone and mixing it with water. The substance obtained by this technology is called nura. However, Odome's worries did not end with the whitewashing of the walls. To prevent the buildings from collapsing after the rains, their walls were regularly smeared with fresh layers of clay.
Despite the fact that the city developed mainly within the boundaries of the fortress walls, in the 19th century. there was a need to expand the territory, therefore, on the opposite bank of the Wadi-Hadramaut river, through the efforts of local merchants, a new al-Sahil quarter was equipped.
CLAY AND WATER
Mud houses throughout the history of the city were threatened by water: periodic floods cause erosion of the foundations, and powerful water currents are enough to literally wash away Shibam.
To date, the Shibam architectural complex is one of the most ancient examples of vertical development. It is under special protection: since 1982 the city has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Despite the fact that Shibam has almost two thousand years of history, a significant part of the houses that can be seen today in the city were built between 1880 and 1915, at the earliest - in the 16th century.
In total, there are about 500 traditional clay buildings in Shibam.
This is due to the difficult tests that the relatively fragile clay walls of buildings are subjected to day after day. Although the clay-brick houses in Shibam last for a long time, moisture and the scorching heat of the desert sun remain their strongest of enemies.
The city was repeatedly destroyed by floods, one of which occurred in 1532-1533. After him, Shibam had to build almost anew. The last time the waters of the Wadi Hadhramaut River approached the city was in October 2008. The danger of such natural disasters for cities like Shibam is that water easily erodes the foundations of clay high-rise buildings, which entails the collapse of buildings. Shibam does not bypass the troubles associated with the unstable political situation in Yemen. In 2009, the city was attacked by the al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
Despite the difficult conditions for the preservation of the ancient architecture of Shibam, in the city you can still find buildings erected at the dawn of Islam. Among such monuments of architecture is the Friday Mosque, built in 904, as well as the castle, the construction of which dates back to 1220. However, outwardly it is quite difficult to distinguish them from later buildings, since construction technologies
practically did not change over time.
Most of Shibam's houses are between five and eleven stories high, with each building accommodating several families. Moreover, in order to avoid problems with lighting, the houses were built in such a way that the sun was blocked to a minimum, and all the owners of the dwellings were in equal conditions. By the number of floors, each of which had one or two rooms, it was always possible to determine whether many families lived in the house or not: as the corresponding need arose, additional floors were built on top of the buildings. Similar rules for the layout of residential buildings are observed in Shibam to this day.
Today, Shibam lives rather poorly, the basis of the city's economy is agriculture: useful crops here they grow on floodplain lands, while local residents are constantly at risk of losing their crops due to another flood, which can be expected here at any time. Clay bricks are still made here, but over time they become less and less in demand due to the spread of more modern technologies construction.
ATTRACTION
■ Friday Mosque (904).
■ Sultan's castle (1220).
■ Fortress walls (XVI century).
■ Dwelling houses of the 16th-19th centuries).
■ Thanks to the unusual architecture, the city of Shibam in the XX century. nicknamed Manhattan in the Desert.
■ Approximate service life of clay houses Shibam - from 200 to 300 years.
■ In Shibam, there is a long-standing routine for the arrangement of premises in residential buildings. For example, it is customary to place granaries and livestock rooms on the ground floor. Living rooms are usually located on the next floor, followed by bedrooms and kitchens. Traditionally, the very last floor is reserved for men to relax.
■ The name of the city Shibam in translation means "height".
GENERAL INFORMATION
Location: north-central Yemen, on the Wadi Hadhramaut River.
Administrative affiliation: Hadhramawt Governorate.
First mention: 3rd c.
Language: Arabic.
Ethnic composition: Arabs, Afro-Arab mulattoes.
Religion: Islam.
Monetary unit: Yemeni rial.
Nearest airports: Saiwun Airport (domestic flights), Sana'a International Airport.
NUMBERS
Population: 13,316 (2004).
Altitude above sea level: 660 m.
Length: length - 350 m, width - 250 m.
CLIMATE
Desert, rainfall is rare.
Average January temperature: up to +21 °C.
Average July temperature: up to +31 °С.
ECONOMY
Agriculture (plant growing).
Manufacture of clay bricks according to traditional technologies.
The city of Shibam in Yemen is built in such a way that its multi-story mud houses form an almost insurmountable obstacle in the way of the attackers. This layout provided a high level of security and a large living space.
Shibam is located on the Wadi Hadhramaut River in Hadhramaut Governorate in the middle of the Ramlat al-Sabatain desert in central Yemen. It is assumed that it was founded about two thousand years ago: the first mention of Shibam dates back to the 3rd century BC. The city was built on a trade route through South Arabia, along which caravans of spice and incense merchants passed.
Once the city served as the capital of the Hadhramaut state, which was formed at the turn of the second-first millennium BC. e. and was annexed to the Himyarite kingdom in the 4th century. n. e. The transfer of the capital of the kingdom to Shibam occurred after the former main city of Hadramut - Shabwa - was destroyed. During its centuries-old history, Shibam managed to visit the capital of the possessions of many rulers who succeeded each other in an endless struggle for power.
Shibam is a unique architectural complex, the creators of which anticipated trends in construction in the twentieth century. The city was built in open space without natural protective barriers in the form of rocks and mountains in the immediate vicinity. Therefore, the houses themselves, built on a limited area enclosed by a wall, became a defensive fortress in it (the current wall dates back to the 16th century). A feature of the layout of Shibam was the vertical orientation of buildings.
Multi-storey buildings, reminiscent of modern skyscrapers, were built close to each other, forming an almost insurmountable barrier to enemies (the Bedouins, who periodically raided cities in the desert, were a particular danger to the inhabitants of Shibam). You can enter the territory of Shibam through the only city gates, from which a wide avenue stretches, crossing the entire city. Narrower streets branch off from the main road, barely two meters wide in places. Meanwhile, the townspeople themselves could move around Shibam without going down to the ground: in case of an attack, some houses were provided with communicating balconies.
Madar served as the building material for the construction of all residential buildings in Shibam without exception. It is a brick made by hand from clay and straw, baked in the sun for several days. After the bricks were built into a tower, its walls were painted with limestone whitewash, which was made by heating limestone and mixing it with water. The substance obtained by this technology is called nura. However, the care of the house did not end with the whitewashing of the walls. To prevent the buildings from collapsing after the rains, their walls were regularly smeared with fresh layers of clay.
Despite the fact that the city developed mainly within the boundaries of the fortress walls, in the 19th century. there was a need to expand the territory, therefore, on the opposite bank of the Wadi-Hadramaut river, through the efforts of local merchants, a new al-Sahil quarter was equipped.
The city of Shibam is located on the Wadi Hadhramaut River in Hadhramaut Governorate in the middle of the Ramlat al-Sabatain desert in north-central Yemen. In terms of the city has the shape of a rectangle. Through Shibam there is a road connecting the western and eastern parts of the country.
To date, the Shibam architectural complex is one of the most ancient examples of vertical development. It is under special protection: since 1982 the city has been included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.
Despite the fact that Shibam has almost two thousand years of history, a significant part of the houses that can be seen today in the city were built between 1880 and 1915, at the earliest - in the 16th century. In total, there are about 500 traditional clay buildings in Shibam.
This is due to the difficult tests that the relatively fragile clay walls of buildings are subjected to day after day. Although the clay-brick houses in Shibam last for a long time, moisture and the scorching heat of the desert sun remain their strongest of enemies. The city was repeatedly destroyed by floods, one of which occurred in 1532-1533. After him, Shibam had to build almost anew. The last time the waters of the Wadi Hadhramaut River approached the city was in October 2008. The danger of such natural disasters for cities like Shibam is that water easily erodes the foundations of clay high-rise buildings, which entails the collapse of buildings. Shibam does not bypass the troubles associated with the unstable political situation in Yemen. In 2009, the city was attacked by the al-Qaeda terrorist organization.
Despite the difficult conditions for the preservation of the ancient architecture of Shibam, in the city you can still find buildings erected at the dawn of Islam. Among such architectural monuments are the Friday Mosque, built in 904, as well as the castle, the construction of which dates back to 1220. However, outwardly it is quite difficult to distinguish them from later buildings, since construction technologies practically did not change over time.
Most of Shibam's houses are between five and eleven stories high, with each building accommodating several families. Moreover, in order to avoid problems with lighting, the houses were built in such a way that the sun was blocked to a minimum, and all the owners of the dwellings were in equal conditions. By the number of floors, each of which had one or two rooms, it was always possible to determine whether many families lived in the house or not: as the corresponding need arose, additional floors were built on top of the buildings. Similar rules for the layout of residential buildings are observed in Shibam to this day.
Today, Shibam lives rather poorly, the basis of the city's economy is agriculture: useful crops are grown here on floodplain lands, while local residents are constantly at risk of losing crops due to another flood, which can be expected here at any moment. Clay bricks are still made here, but over time they are becoming less in demand due to the spread of more modern construction technologies.
general information
Location: north-central Yemen, on the Wadi Hadhramaut river.Administrative affiliation: Hadhramawt Governorate.
First mention: III c.
Language: Arabic.
Ethnic composition: Arabs, Afro-Arab mulattos.
Religion: Islam.
Currency unit: Yemeni rial.
Nearest airports: Saiwun airport (domestic flights), international airport in the capital of Yemen, the city
■ Thanks to the unusual architecture, the city of Shibam in the XX century. got a nickname Manhattan in the desert.
■ Approximate service life of clay houses Shibam - from 200 to 300 years.
■ In Shibam, there is a long-standing routine for the arrangement of premises in residential buildings. For example, it is customary to place granaries and livestock rooms on the ground floor. Living rooms are usually located on the next floor, followed by bedrooms and kitchens. Traditionally, the very last floor is reserved for men to relax.
■ The name of the city Shibam in translation means "height".