[الدكتور أحمد باذيب]

Shibam. An old decorated lime/ramad plinth on one of the houses, commonly used to protect the lower wall surfaces against damage from rain splash and animals.

Shibam. A typical city street. Note the splayed waterproof plaster dados, and the presence of some old overhanging storeys.
The main streets, at least, were paved with stones. But as these became uneven through neglect, they were either removed or covered with earth. The paved streets were laid so that all water drained away from the bases of the houses and towards the centre-an important provision in the event of heavy rains, when water soaking into the earth-mortared foundations and the clayey ground below them might cause major cracking and collapse.

As further protection for the bases of the houses, it was the custom to face the lowest 1.5 or 2 m of the wall with a whitewashed dado of waterproofed plaster, made of lime and wood ashes, called ramàd. At the base, the dado was taken out horizontally for a metre or so to complete the protection of the foundation. The dados were frequently given ornamental mouldings along the top edges and on the corners.


Shibam. A typical drainage situation in the old city, with waste water pouring from a wooden spout onto a splash-surface on the left, and the lower levels of a 'long drop' chute for solid soil on the right.
All the doors of the houses were closed on the inside by rough locks of wood or,
Shibam. The drainage system at the bottom of a house, with a chute for solid waste in the right. (Drawing by J.Seigne).
very exceptionally, of iron. The heavy main door was closed by means of a large wooden latch which could be drawn back by a cord passing through all the storeys above, thus avoiding the necessity of the women going downstairs to open it. (Projecting masonry or wooden water-cooling boxes high up in the buildings sometimes allowed the women to look down on the person at the street door without being observed. Otherwise they had to lean out of a latticed window opening or rely on a coded knock.) In the outside wall next to the street door was a small circular wooden framed opening, just large enough for the insertion of a person's arm. This allowed the wooden lock to be unlocked from inside with the traditional wooden pronged key, looking somewhat like a very large toothbrush; then the heavy bolt could be pushed back and the door opened. The decoration of the panel containing this circular opening, and its cover, Provided an excuse for some of the most original and artistic Wood carving in the city.

The disposition of accommodation in the Shibam houses was very similar to that described above. The ground floor was used for animal stalls and food stores, the first floor above for stalls for small animals (sheep, goats and rabbits), and for firewood, grain and vegetable stores. The second floor was reserved for business and for the entertaining of strangers by the men. The private part of the house began above that, the women and children usually having priority of use of the third and fourth floors above ground, and the men sharing with them the entertaining and relaxing rooms and terraces on the topmost two or three floors.


Shibam. A reception-room in Bayt Salah Bazuhayr. Note the decoration, including a niche to indelicate the direction of prayer. In the foreground, a tray prepared to entertain visitors to tea or coffee.
The majlis, or reception-room, was characterized in the older houses by the presence of a coffee hearth in one corner. This little plastered dais on the floor served as a platform for the charcoal or wood fire which heated the coffee pots, and here the host or hostess squatted to grind the coffee beans or husks in a mortar and to serve the guests. Behind, in the corner of the walls, were niches specially shaped to take the pestle and mortar, the charcoal box and the cups, and one niche had a lockable door so that the precious ingredients could be kept safely. The function of the coffee hearth was subsequently replaced by a large brass or silver tray kept prepared with cups, urns and samovars.

The rooms were lit by pottery or stone lamps containing wicks and burning sesame oil. The walls of the rooms had niches and wooden hooks on which the men might hang their coats, shawls and turbans, and weapons if they were carrying them.

The staircases and corridors of the house were covered with white or cream-washed plaster; it was made with egg-whites and burnished with flint so that it shone like marble. The same colour and material spread across the ceilings and floors, so that the visitor was cocooned in a single, dazzling colour. These spaces were frequently repainted, and kept spotless, for the housewives prided themselves on the cleanliness of the floors and steps, a laborious daily task in such high buildings.

At high levels in many of the houses small doors allowed access through to neighbouring houses, so that the women could visit each other without the inconvenience of veiling and descending into the Street.

In two of the houses of Shibam, belonging to the family of the imams, there were large rooms used for gatherings of devout citizens for religious instruction and discussion. One of these, in a large house on the southern wall, was a fine room with six columns supporting the roof, known as umm al-sitte; at the western end it had a qibla containing a mihrab, decorated in plaster. It was used by the men of the city. In a house on the western wall was a similar room, slightly smaller in size, used by the women.

There were schools within, or in one case above, many of the mosques. They have mostly been replaced in recent years by centralized government schools. The double-storeyed mosque- madrasah, that of Harah, in the north-west corner, was neglected and has collapsed.

The encircling city wall was, on the rampart side, originally higher than a human being; it was Subsequently reduced in height until it exists now only at waist height.

The city wall had a double-storeyed guard post, a kut, in each of its four corners. These kuts have not been used for some years and have fallen into ruin; two, at the southern corners, have disappeared. Here, until quite recently, it was still possible to hear the sound of the watchmen's conch-shell trumpets.

The original gate of the city was a small whitewashed building overlooking the sa'il, the bed of the main wadi.
Shibam. The east end of the old city seen form the southern escarpment. The gate of the city is seen right of center, with al-Khokha mosque behind it , and further right the two buildings which were once Sultans' Palaces. The houses in the foreground, on the near side of the wad, are those of Sihail.
The gatehouse had two openings, a large one to the east for camels, horses and other animals and a small doorway to the west for pedestrians. There were rooms above for the guard and a customs post between the two gateways, for every camel-load of goods entering the city was taxed. In front of the gatehouse a stepped ramp led down to the wadi bed, where women collected water in goatskins from wells for use in the town.

Within the gate to the east, the palaces of the two sultans (for in the mid-twentieth (late fourteenth) century control of the city was shared) were of brown mud-plaster, decorated with wide white bands at the level of the windows like the palace at Sai'un. Opposite the gate was the whitewashed mosque of al-Khokha with its ancient square miet surmounted by a later cylindrical one. The mosque and its miet were rebuilt in the 1940s (1380s), as was the gateway to the city. The latter now has a much grander design, with a large arched outer gate, flanked by square towers, one containing the pedestrian doorway, and an inner gateway of the same design. Between the two lies a square court, flanked by arcaded shops, no longer tenanted.

In the wadi bed indigo dyers once plied their craft, using dried powdered indigo leaves soaked in water from the wells. The camel trains stopped in the open sandy grounds, where their characteristic black tents were pitched. On the western side of the city, beyond the date-palm groves and the beautiful outlying mosque of Sheikh Ma'ruf, were the dusty wastes of the cemetery, each grave marked with a modest pile of stones. Even today, when buildings have begun to sprout outside the walls on the south and the drawers of water and the dyers are gone, there remains a pervading sense of immutability and timelessness about this ancient, soaring, proud city[/