Shibam

Yemen / Hadramaut / al-Mukalla /
 city, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Shibam, the Manhattan of the desert.

Shibam (Arabic: شبام‎) (often referred to as Shibam Hadhramaut) is a town in Yemen with about 7,000 inhabitants. The first known inscription about the city dates from the 3rd century AD. It was the capital of the Hadramawt Kingdom.

Shibam, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, owes its fame to its distinct architecture.The houses of Shibam are all made out of mud brick and about 500 of them are tower houses, which rise 5 to 11 stories high, with each floor having one or two rooms.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shibam
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   15°55'1"N   48°38'0"E
This article was last modified 14 years ago