Modernization threatens Dhamar historical city
The Source: DHAMAR/hadhramaut.info/sabanews.net - 02/09/2010
Home \
Local News
A visitor to the area for the first time can see old and amazing houses, popular markets and old mosques. He can enjoy himself seeing the beauty of the architecture of these ancient houses built from clay and straw.
If he ascends a high building and looks from its roof, he sees vast area contains old houses built from the clay and hay in every direction.
But if he fixes his eyes, he sees some of these houses are vulnerable to collapse and there are new houses being built from concrete bricks distributing between these ancient and beautiful houses. They are disrupting the joy of watching the beauty of the ancient architecture.
The place is the old city of Dhamar which is threatened by modernization. The city is bigger than Sana'a protected historical city.
Dhamar Old city is located in the heart of Dhamar city. It is composed of three old and ancient neighborhoods, Al-Mahal, Al-Jarajish and Al-Hota. These areas are thought to be dated back to the Himyarite era as they are located in the heart of Ans historical area. The area was famous Himyarite city and the people are still pronouncing Himyarite dialect.
Dhamar city is 100 km to the south of the capital Sana'a. It is cold and agricultural area. It has vast and fertile flatlands. Jaharan flatlands is the greatest in the capital and considered a basket food Yemen depends on for local consumption and export to the nearby Saudi Arabia.
As fertile area and rich of water, Himayrite Kingdom, established in 115 century BC, centered in it and built their capital Zafar in nearby area of Yarim. The Kingdom's domination lasted for 600 years.
Dhamar governorate as a whole is considered agricultural, tourist and historical area. The area of Dhamar city is 237 square km, it contains 24, 189 houses inhabited by 23,333 families composing 182,516 people.
Historical monuments are still standing as memorial of ancient civilization built by Yemenis in the past as the origin of Arabs.
The Horn of Dhamar
The Horn of Dhamar is located near the old city to the east. It is 4 kilometers away from it. It is like semi-flat hill extends from the east to the west with distance of 300 meters between the two parts.
It is divided into two parts; the eastern part where there are no buildings but a pool in the middle is located. This pool is dug in the heart of a rock. Around the rock, there are ruins of old buildings and remnant of old fence on the edge of the mountain to the south east part.
The second part is the western where there are buildings were built in Islamic old style. The buildings were built from antique stones. The entrance is in the north and in the western part there are old pools to harvest rainwater. Famous Arab historians mentioned the Horn of Dhamar as an old village.
Dhamar Mosque
Dhamar Mosque is considered one of the oldest mosques in Yemen after the Grand Mosque in Sana'a old city. Yemeni historians say these two historical mosques in addition to Al-janad Mosque in Taiz were built in one year at the time of the Prophet Mohammad Peace Be upon Him and His Kinsmen and from his directions.
Then it was renewed by Ayoubi Sultan during the age of the Islamic Ayoubi State in 600 after Hijrah and was expanded 400 years ago.
The mosque was built from the black stones currently considered of the best stones in Yemen and known as Habash. It has two entrances one from the south and another from the west. A third one from the north has been made recently.
The mosque has four galleries and a minaret in the southwest corner. It is constructed on stone quarter base and adorned by red mud bricks. The mosque has platform historians consider the oldest Islamic one.
Ashamsiah School
Ashamsiah School is considered one of the most significant Islamic monuments built by Imam Shams Addin bin Sharaf Addin bin Al-Mahdi 600 years ago.
It is located in the heart of Dhamar Historical city, in al-Jarajish neighborhood. The school was a forum for teaching the holy Koran, Arabic, Islamic law and astronomy.
Inside the schools, there is inscription from gypsum adorning the above part of the walls. The gypsum inscription includes the complete name of the founder and date of establishing and completing the building of the school written in Arabic letters. It is written that the construction of this building started in 947 Hijri calendar and finished in Ramadan the Great in 949 in Hijri calendar.The Mihrab (prayer niche) is located in the middle of the northern wall to Qiblah direction (the direction to Kaaba). It is adorned with amazing old inscriptions still in their complete beautiful forms though no maintenance work has been conducted since the establishment, according to the scholars of the school.
The roof of the school is carried by many columns carrying rafters. They are built from stones. The roof is made of wood and covered by gypsum. The school has five entrances, two from the north and each one from the east, south and west.
The school was also a mosque for warship. It has high minaret reaching 50 meters constructed on a base of ten meters high. The mosque has not undergone any modernization.
Student used to come to study in the school from different parts of Yemen. The school is surrounded by rooms used to be housing to the students and scholars who came from remote areas. Some of these rooms have been destroyed and the rest are threatened by collapse.
"Souk Al-Rabo's"
"Souk Al-Rabo's" or Wednesday Market, is located in Al-Jarajish Neighborhood besides Ashamsia School. It carries this name because it is used to be held every Wednesday.
The Souk is famous like Souk Al-Melh in Sana'a Old City. People in the market sell grains, nuts, handicrafts, tools used in agriculture, kitchenware, sweet and other things.The Souk contains shops and places for handicrafts like smithery.The whole old historical city is threatened by modernization. New houses and building are being built randomly with concrete and bricks. There is no fence defining the boundaries of the old city.The old city was damaged by the earthquake hit Dhamar governorate in 1982. Many houses were damaged and many others were affected. When reconstruction took place after the earthquake, the old and historical style was not considered. Many houses were rebuilt by concrete blocks and in modern style.The whole city is not protected. Random construction is expanding around the city as there is no fence surrounding the city.
People of Dhamar have become aware of the problem threatening demolishing the old city. Last month, Yemen Times newspaper published news on Dhamari people intention on protecting the old city.According to the Yemen Times, Al-Houdrani cultural forum called for the protection of the old city's historical buildings during a symposium attended by specialists and representatives from relevant authorities.The branch Manager of the General Organization for the Preservation of Historic Cities in Dhamar Safwan Ali Al-Dobei told Saba that they are lobbying people to protect the old city and are going to launch a campaign for the purpose of preserving the historical architecture in the old city."We have sought to form a committee to protect the city but we are facing difficulties from executive offices like endowment office as it is not serious" in cooperation with us, said Al-Dobei.He said that the branch of the organization has not financial resources to protect the houses threatened by collapse. The branch also does not have employees to help it carry its duties as demanded.According to Al-Dobei, Dhamar University has been invited to participate in protecting the old city. Students and their professors will participate in making studies and researches.
|