In the Empty Quarter desert lies Yemen’s ancient city of Shibam, whose incredible mud skyscrapers symbolize human adaptability in harsh environments.
Yemen’s fortified city of Shibam dates back to the 16th century and is the oldest city in the world to use vertical construction. When British explorer Freya Stark encountered Shibam in the 1930s, she named it the “Manhattan of the Desert.” This mud brick metropolis was intricately designed, and its positioning and urban planning are a testament to humanity’s strategic capabilities.
Shibam skyscrapers: Yemen’s incredible ancient city planning
The skyscraper city of Shibam is a feat of engineering and ingenuity in Yemen’s Empty Quarter desert. Overcoming the harshness of the environment around them, the people who established the city drew on the resources available to them to create a flourishing settlement.
Shibam rises out of an elevated plateau over a massive flood wadi, or river valley. Its location has multiple strategic functions. For example, its position high above the surrounding valley gives Shibam a vantage point that, in the past, enabled it to ward off approaching enemies.
While it is elevated, Shibam is not far from a river oasis. This provides inhabitants with vital access to a freshwater source for drinking and for irrigating the agricultural land that surrounds the city, which is full of vegetables and herbs.
Shibam’s urban planning is incredible, both by ancient and modern standards. The city was built in a rectangular grid bordered by a fortified wall. Its layout is both efficient for the everyday citizen and helps boost the city’s defensive capabilities.
However, what makes the ancient city of Shibam in Yemen unique is its skyscrapers. Its incredible structure, reach up to seven stories high, a remarkable achievement for the era in which it was built. The buildings were made from the soil that surrounds the city. The soil was combined with hay and water, left out to bake in the hot desert sun for days, and turned into bricks.
The ground floors of the buildings serve as grain stores, and the first floor’s windowless rooms are used to preserve the crops. The upper floors serve as communal spaces and apartments. In some areas of the city, bridges connect the mud skyscrapers to each other, enabling easy access from building to building and as a quick means of escape in times of peril.
Despite having survived for 1,700 years since its construction, Shibam is under threat. In recent years, weather has eroded some of the city’s famed mud skyscrapers, and heavy bombing from Yemen’s ongoing civil war has also damaged some of its structures.