Ṣan'ā'

Sanaa stands on a high plateau surrounded by the mountains of Yemen. Its densely built old city is famed for tall houses of stone and brick, their façades patterned with white gypsum and coloured windows. Gardens and orchards lie within the urban fabric, while narrow streets lead to markets, mosques and public baths. Inhabited for more than two millennia, Sanaa was a centre of the ancient South Arabian kingdoms before becoming an important city of Islam.

The Great Mosque belongs to the earliest Islamic history of Yemen. Over the centuries the city passed between rival rulers, including Zaydi imams and dynasties whose power also rested on the mountain strongholds around it. Its position on the route through the highlands kept it connected with the towns of northern Yemen and the ports beyond the mountains.

Ottoman rule in the sixteenth century brought new buildings and changes to the city's appearance. A second urban area, Bir al-Azab, developed west of the older walled town. The Ottoman presence also left its mark on religious institutions and mosque architecture. In the seventeenth century the Qasimi imams displaced the Ottomans and Sanaa again became a centre of Zaydi rule. The city's distinctive buildings preserve the work of many generations who adapted its streets, markets and houses to the needs of highland life.