Mud-brick skyscrapers of Shibam
Rascacielos de adobe de Shibam
- Date
- c. century XVI · confidence medium
- Place
- Shibam, Hadramawt, Yemen
- Credited to
- Hadrami builders
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A walled city of some five hundred mud-brick tower houses up to eleven storeys high, built close together on a promontory, with a regular grid of narrow streets. Known as the 'Manhattan of the desert', it is a case of pre-modern vertical densification.
The city has existed since at least the 3rd century, but the present houses mostly date from the 16th century, after a flood in 1532-1533; 'skyscraper' is a popular metaphor. It is not a technical precursor of the steel skyscraper.
What it led to
- a Hadrami tradition of tall mud-brick buildings maintained into the 20th century
- protection against Bedouin raids
- a reference for earth architecture and urban rehabilitation (World Heritage, 1982)