Sana'a

Sana'a (arabic for the fortified city), the capital of Yemen, situated at 2350m above sea level in the heart of the central high plateau of the country. a splendid, homogenic and spectacular city, it has 4 entrance gates to the old town with its roughly five thousand residences constructed from clay bricks.

according to one version, Sana'a's foundation goes back to the 1st century, whereas a legend attributes Sana'a's origins to Sem, the son of Noah.

the capital has a rich history, including of occupation. the second ottoman occupation from 1872-1918 laid the foundation for today's Sana'a as important capital, including the establishment of an administration that remained in place after the departure of the Turks. from 1948 until the end of the 1960s, the city suffered from heavy looting. starting in the 1970s, it benefited from a lot of modernisation. however, it was only following the Gulf war (and the expulsion of 800,000 Yemenis from Saudi Arabia and another 200,000 from Kuwait, because of Yemen's support of Saddam Hussein and Iraq) that Sana'a really exploded as urban, metropolitan city.


the world-famous old town of Sana'a, part of UNESCO's world heritage sites.


























































































a camel in the middle of the old town, enjoying a little rest from work.

















the street around the old town of Sana'a, which is also meant to protect the old town in cases of floodings.

















view from Bab al-Yemen, probably the most famous entrance gate to the old town, from where also the different market sections go off in all directions.

















the old town at night, when the windows are iluminated and thus showing their wonderful colours.

Boukur

the famous Boukur mountain cliff and views from its top, as well as its surroundings.

Wadi Dhar / Rock Palace Dar al-Hajjar

Wadi Dhar with its famous Rock Palace Dar al-Hajjar, in the surroundings of Sana'a (15km to the north-west of Sana'a).
































the Rock Palace Dar al-Hajjar itself.

it is the former palace of the imam, built in 1786 under imam Al-Mansour Ali Bin al-Mahdi Abbas and enlarged by imam Yahya Hamid ad-Din around 1930. the Rock Palace served as the summer residence of the imam. this is also where he met tribe members in cases of conflict.

the palace includes 5 floors and 17 rooms.









































view from the Rock Palace.
















village in the vicinity of the Rock Palace.

Thula, Hababa, Kaukaban + Shibam

Thula, one of the most magical old towns in Yemen, at 2700m above sea level.

Thula has an old citadel dating from the 3rd century and called Ghourabe (meaning the crow), just like the djebel at which bottom it is situated. the ramparts with 5 entrance gates were built during the time of the Imam Mouthahar in the 15th century. at the time, there were also many Jews living in Thula, in a village just outside of the ramparts and who engaged in arts and crafts (silver and gold crafts, belts, saddles, etc.).



























































the old town of Shibam (not to confuse with the famous desert city Shibam in Hadramout region).

at the time, Shibam was one of the passage points for the caravanes on the incense route: after Marib and Sana'a, before Thula, Amran and Saada. it has one of the oldest mosques in the country, built in the 9th century by Asad ibn Abu Yufir at the place of a former pre-islamique temple. Shibam was conquered by the Ottomans who fortified it by constructing ramparts around it.



































Hababa, another old passage city for the former caravanes. again, this city was enclosed by ramparts, with 3 (still existing) entrance gates.

Hababa with its famous water tank, which was used to store drinking water.
































































Kaukaban (sometimes also written as Kawkaban) is situated at 3000m above sea level.

the fortress city was originally founded to protect Shibam, which is directly below Kaukaban, at the bottom of its mountain. parts of the old town ramparts still exist, in particular the entrance gate. many houses were destroyed during the bombardments in the 1960s. the 1990s saw a period of re-habilitation of some of these old houses.


Kaukaban mystic in clouds and lovely with sunshine.

































little village just below the mountain top of Kaukaban (at outskirts of Shibam), where people used to live in caves (nowadays mostly no longer inhabited). these cave dwellings go back to the time before islam, to the 3rd or 4th century.
















landscape in the area of Thulla, Hababa and Kaukaban.















































































another old/former village.

Jibblah

the ancient town of Jibblah (sometimes also written as Jibla), between Ibb (190km to the south of Sana'a) and Taez.

in the 11th century, Jibblah was the seat of Queen Arwa, the only queen in the history of Islam. Queen Arwa moved from Sana'a to Jibblah where she initiated big works in art (mosque) and engineering (road construction, aquaduct). today the ruins of her old palace can still be visited. she passed away in 1138 at the age of 90 years, following 50 years of reign.














































the famous Mosque of Jibblah from the 16th century.
























































entrance door to the Mosque.




















landscape between Jibblah and Taiz.