Research On Construction And Protection Of The Old City Of Sana’a

The Old City of Sana ’a is located in the East of Sana’a which isYemen’s capital now,it has a history of over2500years. In the early10th Century BC Sabaean Kingdom, Sana’a is one of the key piontfortress in plateau trade route.At time of Himyarite Kingdom, Sana’ais second capital and royal palace, the city built the famous ghumdan.In7th Century, old city of Sana’a is the dissemination center of Islam,the building in the city becomes a typical Islamic style model ofarchitecture,many buildings in the city in the Arabia region is uniqe.Sana’a were conquerd by Arabia Empire and the Osman Empire,Sana’a city had been destroyed of natural or man-made disasters andrebuilt many times. In1918, the Turks withdrew from Yemen, it ruledby Mutawakkilite Kingdom, under its policy influence, Sana’a citybecomes a closed state, which makes a lot of traditional architecturewell preserved.In1962,the Republic of Yemen establishment, with the openingpolicy, its economic developed fast. Surrounding residents influxSana’a City, population increased dramatically and brought manyproblems to the old city of Sana’a. for example, many ancientbuildings without adequacy maintenance becomes worse and worse. Faced to these problems, Yemen government have no ablity takeeffective measures to protect. In order to preserve the historic city, atthe request of the Yemen government, UNESCO in1980launched the"international campaign to conserve the old city of Sana’a". In theaction, UNESCO provide financial and technical assistance to thegovernment of Yemen, and has attracted many internationalparticipation, the action also trained a group of professionals. After alot of protection and restoration work, old city of Sana’a revitalized, in1986it was recognized as world heritage by the UNESCO.This paper is divided into four parts. The first part is theintroduction of Sana’a city geographical environment and thehistorical development. The second part introduces the traditionalarchitecture and characteristics of the ancient city of Sana’a, Thethird part introduces the Sana’a city protection action,and the role ofthe UNESCO’s guide in protecting action. The last part summarisedthe protective action of old Sana’a city,and its significant on China’sworld heritage and cultural protection.Based on the wide collection, collating relevant materials,thispaper introduced architectural characteristics of the old city ofSana’a,and discussed the problems and countermeasures in theprocess of the ancient city of Sana’a modernization, in order toimprove the domestic study on protection of the old city of Sana’a.