SANAA, Aug. 4 (Saba) - The General Organization for the Preservation of the Historic Cities of Yemen has issued a distress call to entire the world, foremost of UNESCO and world heritage centers to save the historic city of Sanaa as some of its buildings were subjected to collapse due to continuous rains.
The Organization said in a statement received by Saba that the old buildings in Sana'a, which lasted for hundreds of years, are almost lost at any moment due to the continued heavy and unprecedented rainfall that led to the near-total collapse of the number of inhabited buildings.
The statement pointed to partial collapses of load-bearing walls and ceilings of the wall of the northern and southern city of Sanaa, stressing that this global city today is facing a real catastrophe threatening its existence.
The statement pointed out that the organization faces with its simple and limited capabilities the risk of heavy and unprecedented rains pouring into historical cities, especially the old city of Sanaa and causing successive collapses of its buildings sends a message to the world to take responsibility to save this human heritage.
We tell them that your support for the efforts of the Organization and its staff, which continue to work day and night with rare possibilities, is going for the rescue of an important component in the civilizational history of humanity that cannot be compensated, expressing the hope that this distress call will find understanding and response.
The statement outlined some aspects of the historical specificity of old Sanaa, indicating that it is the historical city present in existence since the beginnings of the presence of Man on earth and witnessing the course of history and its events and that it is a global city that impressed the world with its architectural fabric and amazed by its distinctive inscriptions, decorations, and distinctive architectural patterns.
It mentioned that the ancient city of Sanaa presented the world with an elegant model architecture combining a good organization and management, meeting humanitarian needs and various social patterns, and throughout history produced a social behavior coexistent and harmonious among its diverse groups.
It also noted that the city has been registered in the World Heritage Register since1986 AD, which forced the world to bow in honor and dignity to those great builders who built these beautiful palaces of what was provided in their environment from natural materials such as stone, clay, Yajur, and wood with simple primitive tools and inherited engineering genius.
"Situated in a mountain valley at an altitude of 2,200 m, Sana’a has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years. In the 7th and 8th centuries the city became a major centre for the propagation of Islam. This religious and political heritage can be seen in the 103 mosques, 14 hammams and over 6,000 houses, all built before the 11th century. Sana’a’s many-storeyed tower-houses built of rammed earth (pisé) add to the beauty of the site."
H.H
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