Façades of Old Sana'a
For centuries, Yemen has been a very isolated country. This has resulted in a firm adherence to ancient traditions and, not only socially but also architecturally. Not only are the historic areas of the almost every city in the country, and specially in Sana'a, perfectly preserved, but traditional building methods still thrive elsewhere and many new buildings are also etched with the typical white filigree window frameworks and adorned with stained-glass windows. This is really unusual in many other places of the Arab world, where many old houses have been ripped down to make way for hyper-modern high-rise buildings, like in the Gulf States, if not for bland steel-and-glass or even plain concrete box-shaped buildings.
Façades of Old Sana'a
For centuries, Yemen has been a very isolated country. This has resulted in a firm adherence to ancient traditions and, not only socially but also architecturally. Not only are the historic areas of the almost every city in the country, and specially in Sana'a, perfectly preserved, but traditional building methods still thrive elsewhere and many new buildings are also etched with the typical white filigree window frameworks and adorned with stained-glass windows. This is really unusual in many other places of the Arab world, where many old houses have been ripped down to make way for hyper-modern high-rise buildings, like in the Gulf States, if not for bland steel-and-glass or even plain concrete box-shaped buildings.