Shibam — Hadhrami builders, c. 1550: photos for a case study

About Shibam

Shibam (Arabic: شِبَام, romanized: Shibām), officially the Old Walled City of Shibam (Arabic: مدينة شبام القديمة وسورها), is a town in Wadi Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen with about 7,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Shibam District in the Hadhramaut Governorate. It is known for its mudbrick-made high-rise buildings, with some of the buildings reaching as high as eleven stories. The design centred around protecting the residents of the city from Bedouin attacks.

Shibam, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is known for its distinct architecture. The houses of Shibam are all made out of mudbrick, and about 500 of them are tower blocks, which rise 5 to 11 stories high, with each floor having one or two rooms. This architectural style was used in order to protect residents from Bedouin attacks. While Shibam has been in existence for an estimated 1,700 years, the present town dates to 1533. Many houses, though, have been rebuilt numerous times in the last few centuries.

Shortened from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.