‘Protect Old City of Sana’a’

TDT | Manama

Arab Regional Centre for World Heritage board chairperson Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa has expressed deep concern over the extensive damage caused to the Old City of Sana’a by the recent torrential rains and floods that hit Yemen. “We are pained when we see another of our old Arab cities losing part of its original historical features,” Shaikha Mai said.

“We call on all those concerned with world human heritage to take urgent action in order to save the Yemeni community in Sana’a and its cultural and urban fabric.” Historic cities are one of the most important heritage elements that characterise the cultural heritage in Arab countries, and protecting and preserving them is a shared local and global responsibility, Shaikha Mai added.

Several Yemenis have died because of the floods that hit several provinces and damaged historic buildings in Sana’a and the city wall. Inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1986, the Old City of Sana’a has been included on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2015.

Inhabited for more than 2,500 years, the city’s extraordinary rammed earth and burnt brick towers rise several stories above stone-built ground floors, strikingly decorated with geometric patterns of fired bricks and white gypsum, UNESCO said. Its houses, which are widely considered as exceptional examples of traditional human settlements, are unique masterpieces.