Heritage Under Threat: The Ancient Yemeni Mud City on the Verge of Collapse
Since the beginning of the war in Yemen, a number of cities have been strongly affected by the conflict, with buildings getting destroyed and thousands of citizens being displaced.
One of these cities is Yemen’s Shibam, which is over 1,700 years old. Located in the famous Hadramout province, it is a protected UNESCO World Heritage Site and is considered the first city with a vertical masterplan. Historically, its buildings were built close to one another to protect owners from clashes with thieves or other families.
Although it is dubbed as the “Manhattan of the Desert” and the “historic mud-skyscraper city”, the city had been deprived of proper maintenance since the start of the war. To top that, recent rainfall caused extensive damage to its buildings, and local authorities are currently calling for international aid to save the historic city from collapse.
Scroll down and admire its beauty.
