"The city is very beautiful; the houses are tall and wonderful, and are built entirely of cut stones and brown bricks, the roads are wide and clean, and the people are elegant and polite."
This is how old Sana'a looked in the eyes of the Italian writer Renzo Manzoni after his visit to the city in the nineteenth century; Manzoni visited it between (1877-1878), and in his book "Yemen... A Journey to Sana'a", he described it with an eye that does not stop at the apparent surface; the city has been inhabited for more than 2500 years, with a great political, religious and urban heritage that qualified it to be on the World Heritage List in 1986, as one of the most important human heritage cities that should be preserved, without compromising its artistic and aesthetic specificity.
According to the head of the General Authority for the Preservation of Historic Cities Khaled al-Ibrahimi, Old Sana’a includes approximately 11,000 houses, ranging in height from 3 to 8 floors, more than 40 orchards and a “Miqshama” (an urban agricultural area that is a small field in which radishes, leeks and the like vegetables are grown). All this made the city a pioneer in what are called modern (garden cities), where green spaces and empty spaces constituted approximately 65% of the total area of the city. Moreover, the city also includes more than 106 mosques which are characterized by the diversity of their domes and silos, and their different inscriptions and decorations. In addition, it has more than 30 Samsarat (high buildings used for different functions; as houses for money, storage, places to accommodate travelers and visitors, and so on). Also, in Old Sana'a, there are about 45 markets, each of which is dedicated to the selling of a particular commodity or a particular craft. In addition, there are an estimated 21 steam baths, and all of these units are enclosed by a surrounding mud wall with seven gates, the most famous of which is Bab al-Yaman.
Now, after thirty-three years have passed since joining UNESCO, Sana'a faced the threat of being removed off more than once because of what the organization called "grave violations" against the city.
Government violations at the fore
In the vicinity of the Citadel (the Palace of Weapons) and in front of the historic Al-Bakiriya Mosque, there is the National Security Building which was built with reinforced concrete, occupying a large area, in grave violation of the city’s specifications and urban character. In an area not far away, the state created a police station in Bab Shu’ob with modern specifications that also bypassed the prohibitions of construction inside the city. Additionally, the authorities seized the "Miqshama" of Salah al-Din's to be used for own purposes, and converted the Angqad orchard into a commercial market. The matter did not stop at this point, as Eng. Jamil Shamsan, Director of the Technical Office at the Ministry of Culture, indicated in his interview with "Khuyut". The government, while renovating the citadel wall, in front of the outpatient clinics of the Al-Thawra Hospital, committed serious architectural errors; It built the wall with black and white stone, and increased its height far above its original length. As a result of the frequent governmental changes, one of the seven gates of the old city (Bab Stran) has disappeared. At that time, "the government justified the violation as preventing prisoners from escaping from the castle." Shamsan added that there are also "minor violations" committed by successive governments, related to painting and giant advertisement boards that are placed on building facades, in markets, and on the wall surrounding the city.
Depth of the problem
Although the old Sanaa joined the World Heritage List in 1986, the law to preserve it was issued only in 2013, which raises dozens of questions about the reasons behind this great time delay. Engineer Yassin Ghaleb, technical advisor to the Historic Cities Preservation Authority, tries to answer some of them. In an interview with "Khuyut", Ghaleb said that "successive authorities do not have a general vision of interest and preservation of cultural heritage, as they treat it as a secondary matter." He added that, even with the issuance of the preservation law, "there is still no executive regulation in light of which we can work, despite the attempts that we and the Social Fund for Development have made to work on this draft regulation. We were faced with a lack of response and unjustified inaction on the part of the concerned authorities, especially the Ministry of Culture, where the reponse was that "the law has not been enforced yet."
According to technical advisor Yassin Ghaleb, the problem is not only here, but that the Ministry of Culture’s creation of the “General Authority for Antiquities and Historic Cities sector” within its administrative structure has created a kind of conflict of duties and deprived the General Authority for the Preservation of Historic Cities from its powers and independence.
In the same context, lawyer Tariq Al-Hammadi, the Authority legal advisor, agrees with Yassin Ghaleb's view. In an interview with "Khuyut", he said that the depth of the problem is summed up in the "lack of intention and will on the part of the senior management." As he put it, "the implementation of the scheme (presented by the Authority) may shut down the tap of sustenance with official construction licenses, and block the way against the 'lobby' of the corrupt and the benefactors present in various authorities which is something that all of these corrupted people stand against."
Organized corruption lobby
In the context of his answer to the questions of "Khuyut" regarding the impact of the control and influence of Capital in the historical city, Shamsan says that "some traders and beneficiaries resorted to adopting innovative methods to dislocate and demolish the existing historical houses; They buy it from its owners, then close it for some time and flood it with water until the foundations are loosened and the building finally collapses. Then they build "samaser" and modern commercial centers in the heart of the historic city. In addition, they take over empty spaces such as the “Al Marana” areas, each of which may reach approximately 30 square metres in size.
Al-Marna’a is a slang word in the San’ani dialect, which means the path leading from the water well that has been used by animals, camel, donkey, or horse, to carry water from that well; In Hodeidah it is called “Al Majlabh”, and it is called “Majlab” in Al Dhale’ Governorate, and in Sa’ada, Ma’rib, and Al Jawf it is called “Al Maddah” and in Dhamar it is called “Al Mihwar” and in its engineering design it is a sloping-shaped building that contains inside it On the water well, then a slight slope that allows the animal or camel to draw water from the well easily and comfortably. This design clearly indicates the keenness of the early Yemenis care of animals and kindness to them. Perhaps "Al-Marna'a" is found in a number of ancient cities and towns in Yemen, but its presence in the old city of Sana'a is more prominent. Some statistics indicate that the old Sana’a contained 27 “pathways”, and it constituted a large area of open space within the city, but with the construction developments, the equation for the open areas in the city had changed now, as it is now estimated at only (53%) of the total area of the city after it was (56%) at the beginning of the eighties.
The head of the Technical Office of the Ministry of Culture listed examples of changes made by merchants and businessmen to the historic buildings in Old Sana’a, including: “Al-Bu’ani brokerage,” which UNESCO undertook to restore between the years (1988-1989) through its Italian delegate, Bervarto. Prevarto who was fascinated by the beauty of Sana'a, but a number of merchants and businessmen turned some of the old brokers into modern buildings of their own, as easily noticeable commercial and residential centers.
The suffering
Yemen is full of historical cities; Sana'a is one of three cities on the World Heritage List, along with the cities of Shibam, Hadramout and Zabid, there are also ten sites on the waiting list. This entire historical legacy is supposed to fall under the responsibility of the General Authority for Historic Cities, whose budget does not exceed 260,000 Yemeni riyals, or less than a thousand dollars only. “This means that we are working almost without an operation budget,” Khaled al-Ibrahimi, head of the authority, told Khuyut. He added, "We are currently working hard to stop expansion, confront the infringement of markets on residential neighborhoods, and regulate traffic in the city, despite the fact that we are facing a heavy legacy of abuse that seems to be a very difficult task, especially in light of the war and its consequences."
The consequences of the war are not limited to the economic aspect only, according to Al-Ibrahimi, but there is direct and clear damage as a result of the bombing of the Arab coalition aircraft, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE, on the Al-Qasimi, Al-Falihi and Al-Madrasa neighborhoods. In addition to that, the areas around the Ministry of Defense building in the Al-Ordhi areas have been affected by explosions during the terrorist attack on the Ministry defense building on December 5, 2013. “These efforts to stop the development have recently yielded a response from UNESCO, which we will work to strengthen.” Al-Ibrahimi said.
Experimentation in heritage is a sabotage
“The majority of appointments are not subject to competency standards in the cultural and historical field in general. There is improvisation and nepotism that has produced all this havoc, and unfortunately the law applies only on the poor people.” Counselor Yassin Ghaleb, who also expressed his regret at the lack of standardization in the Authority performance. He said that the Authority "does not have realistic statistics on the number of violations, whether serious, medium, or minor."
For his part, Eng. Jamil Shamsan pointed to the “lack of coordination between the concerned authorities,” starting with the General Authority for the Preservation of Historic Cities, local councils, police departments, the Ministries of Culture and Public Works, and the Ministry of Awqaf, which is the largest governmental body with the largest share in the city, and the Ministry of Awqaf, which is the largest governmental body, has the largest share in the city, and the most government agency breaches the regulations of preserving the old city.
The city is a victim like us
Abdullah Al-Maori (50 years old), a resident of Old Sana’a, expresses his great dissatisfaction with the government agencies concerned with preserving historical buildings. Many buildings are collapsing in full view of authorities. Al-Maori pointed out that many residents of old Sana'a "moved to live in new areas due to many problems, foremost of which are the costs of issuing maintenance and restoration licenses." Many families have moved from the old city of Sana'a due to the difficulty of obtaining some services, such as water tankers as water trucks cannot reach to the center of the old city. Regarding the violations, the Maori added to "Khuyut": "Our violation as citizens is modest compared to the violations of the state itself, the major merchants and the influential."
In the same context, Mohammad al-Ghazali, a man in his 70s, from the neighborhoods surrounding Souk al-Maleh said: “There are great changes that have taken place in the city, and as one of the native residents, I have been observing how the city has been tampered with and changed. He said that Souk al-Malah and all the markets were made up of one floor to allow for vision whereas the "brokers" were built in multi-storey. Now this scheme has been completely distorted, in addition to the encroachment of markets into residential areas. This not only annoys the residents' comfort, but also affects the foundation of the old houses whose ground floors are converted into shops and commercial stores.
Conclusion
Talking about the necessity of issuing an executive bylaw for the preservation law concerning the protection of the old city of Sana’a does not seem like a luxury regardless of the circumstances, especially with the progress of the existing blurring the historical features of the city in full swing. Rather, working to issue the bylaws as soon as possible is a national duty and a battle aimed at protecting the history of the capital of Yemen. Before this and that, the issue of preserving the old city will remain a challenge to assess the seriousness and integrity of the successive authorities towards the city.
