the world’s first skyscrapers
27Aug07
shibam, yemen
also known as ‘the manhattan of the desert’, shibam is said to be home to the world’s oldest, surviving skyscrapers.
although some have been refurbished considerably since being constructed from mud-brick the majority of the 500+ buildings date back around 500 years, an incredible feat considering the technology available at the time.
the current population is a surprisingly low 7′000 and each building requires constant maintenance to combat erosion.
unsurprisingly, inside the city there is virtually no traffic due to the extremely narrow alleyways.
a brief but very cool fly-by of the area…
shibam on archnet here
shibam on traveladventures.com
shibam at the world heritage centre
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That is so cool!
Wow! Hope they never have an earthquake!
2nd!
Nice. i never knew this city existed. Thanks for the headsup.
why in the world would they build “up” so much? usually it’s reserved for when there’s no more space… as in manhattan. it looks like there’s a large surrounding area? is it limited and used for farming or something?
It’s a historical site, built 500 years ago…they aren’t adding more buildings , a tourist attraction is all it is now.
Mud skyscrapers? It must not rain very much there!
Uh…it’s only a model.
I would suspect the reason for its density was for security reasons. Basically house as many people as you can in the smallest amount of space that you can protect. Maybe there was a great wall around this city in the past.
Who knows what hidden rooms or passages exist above and below ground. This place has a lot of secrets.
Very cool pictures.
That’s really cool and i like it!
this is retarded. what a crappy miniature.
Wow, where are the smurfs.
I haven’t seen those type of effects since they invented CG.
I have some cool jet planes that you could hang above the city, and they were made like a thousand years ago.. when I was a kid.
These buildings are not real.
It’s only a model.
Could it have been designed to enable more effective and efficient cooling? Seems to me not a lot out there to shade people/places…
Hey,
Thats good, It is real A.?
Is it built like that for cooling?
Thanks for sharing.
Of course the buildings are real you morons. Did you try visiting the links, did you?
This world is being over run by stupid people.
Doesn’t heat rise? This seems like it would be a foolish idea. Also, I’m suspicious about the capacity of mud to hold up a ten story building.
It’s real. Go to google maps and look it up.
A lot of people on here are very quick to state it’s a fake. I think if these people took the time to use google (and no, it ain’t that fuckin’ hard) you’d see that it isn’t a model and does actually exist in Yemen.
Dumb-arses.
“Its a model”. “Fake”. “Only the USA can build skyscrapers”.
It is obviously hurting some people to find that a 3rd world country, full of Muslims, could build buildings hundreds of years ago that rival modern western cities. This place does appear to be real:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibam
Here it is on Google Maps:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=shibam,+yemen&sll=15.923696,48.631668&sspn=0.331469,0.466919&ie=UTF8&ll=15.926698,48.6261&spn=0.00259,0.005407&t=k&z=18&om=1
On Google Earth there are plenty of photos added too, in the layers.
These skyscrapers here in Cuenca, Spain. are suposed to be 12th Century.
http://travel.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/travel/destinations/spain/article700294.ece
http://flickr.com/photos/crispe/449819583/in/pool-cuenca/
also muslim architecture
“rival modern western cities.” BWAHAHAHAHAHA! It’s impressive, considering it’s age, but I think you’re just playing on the sympathy chord a bit too much here; with your talk of a “3rd world country, full of Muslims” Heavily implying that everyone here is thinking it’s fake because everyone here is an American, and every American is a capitalist pig who pisses in the water supply of Africa. The reason they believe it is fake is that the pictures simply look like models. Nothing more, nothing less. As for rivaling our cities, these ’skyscrapers’ are 5-7 storys high (wikipedia). It probably wouldn’t be too hard to find a rural house that high, let alone our city buildings. The empire state building is 109 storys, and was constructed using advanced mathematics, rather than piling mud bricks on top of each other. Not saying it isn’t impressive, but I just hated your elitist style of writing.
Man, that was a good rant.
Of course it’s real. But people have been building this high for more than 2000 years. Rome was full of 8 and 10 story apartment buildings circa b.c.
Due to war, normal erosion, abandonment etc. buildings just don’t normally last this long. The only real testament to this place is that society stuck around for that long and maintained the buildings.
Ned, I don’t see anyone mentioning the US until you did. I think there are enough legitimate criticisms about the US floating around without adding utterly baseless and made-up ones to the pile.
This city should be listed in 7 wonder!
“I have an opinion. Don’t confuse me with facts.” hahaha.
Uhh… fuck you Ned Wreck. They may be idiots, but not for any racist or ethnic reasons.
Guys,
These people aren’t saying it’s not real because “only the U.S. can build skyscrapers” — they’re saying this because the pictures and movie have a weird quality that makes the buildings look like models.
I don’t dispute the place is real, but before you start criticizing people for being nation-centric, consider how these pictures look!
It’s real, and a World Heritage Site. People have always had an canny ability to open their mouths without thinking. What hope is there that Google might help?!
““Its a model”. “Fake”. “Only the USA can build skyscrapers”.
It is obviously hurting some people to find that a 3rd world country, full of Muslims, could build buildings hundreds of years ago that rival modern western cities.”
Read personal beliefs into the statements of others much? Xenophobic cretin.
It’s real. I’ve been there. You can walk across the town on the roof tops. Incredible place.
Yes, this city is real. Learn more about architecture constructed of mud at http://www.eartharchitecture.org
Here are two books that discuss the unique earthen architecture of Yemen:
Cities of Earth
The Valley of Mud Brick Architecture
There’s a couple of even older skyscrapers. The three Giza pyramids. The Largest of them is 50 stories high.
I think the problem Ned had is that so many people jumped on the “It’s Fake” bandwagon just because it didn’t look “real” to them. Without even researching further…or possibly even deciding on their own (taking the previous comment for granted) they went ahead and decided it couldn’t be an actual place.
Middle Eastern cities/towns are filled with mud and concrete buildings…that are stacked upon each other one after another.
To Ned’s comment on Muslim and 3rd world…(just the comment, not Ned)….the Middle East was having a huge renaissance around the same time the Europeans were cutting their heads open and banging on brains with hammers to cure headaches…and killing non-Christians that didn’t convert.
We get a lot of our science and art from them.
The reason the buildings are so tall is that the town is built on raised land in a flood plain so there was no room to expand outwards.
Great photos, thanks for publishing them. It’s a shame Gulf War III seems to be about to break out in the comments!
it is a wanrafull
I went to Shibam in 1997. It is a beatiful mini city set in a stark landscape and surrounded by a wall whose gates are closed at night. The streets are indeed narrow; they were planed before motor traffic.
Its real, excellent, and great
I proud to say that I born in Shibam-Hadhramaut, this great town which still inhabited since more than 2500 years; its the jewel and the old trade center of Hadhramaut, not only with its mud brick skyscrapers but also with its excellent, good manners, tolarant, and open minded people.
For more information I am adding this link
http://shibamonline.net
thanks
It’s photoshopped….
hahahahaha can’t believe I’m the first one to say it.
rofl @ people saying its a model.. f**kwits they are
what the hell
I was there about 20 years ago. It was realy fantastic. I walked among these buildings. I never forget it.
It is really cool and it is true!
by Pier Paolo Pasolini. It is a wonderful movie, like a fairy tale. If you can get it, you must check it out. I think this is a ‘must have’ movie. The story is amazing, and you can see the skycrapers themselves. So enjoy the movie!
I have always been amazed by these skyscrapers, but I did never dare to travel there because of the political situation.
But one of my favourite movies is: the “Arabian nights” (original title: “Il fiore delle Mille e una notte”, in Hungarian: “Az ezeregy éjszaka virágai”
See the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Il_fiore_delle_mille_e_una_notte
Well said Snyplo!
Fadumpt–As if the Muslims aren’t guilty of the “killing if you didn’t convert” philosophy.
See reference:
Lewcock, Ronald (1986), Wādī Ḥaḍramawt and the walled city of Shibām. Paris: UNESCO.
THATS MY COUNTRY!!…. trust me they are real i have been there many many times…and they look even more beautiful every time
It is so sad the way people will rush to judge a thing without first checking their facts. If they had just bothered to go to a dictionary…an actual book…or an atlas, they would have seen that Shibam is indeed a real place. Unless of course the people that decide on World Heritage sites have all been deluded by a photoshop/model.
Thank you for putting this online. For making it available to people that otherwise would never have known about it.
“As for rivaling our cities, these ’skyscrapers’ are 5-7 stories high (wikipedia)” First of all anyone that cites wikipedia as a definitive source needs to be thumped on the head.. secondly.. count the floors.. more than a few of them go up to ten floors.. Before you open your mouth too wide and fall in you should take the time to really look. at first glance I thought one picture was a model as well.. just need to take your time, close your mouth, and open your eyes…
incredibly interesting!