The Inventory of the historic city of Sana'a- a tool for urban conservation
The Old City of Sana'a is known world-wide as one of the most authentic and significant examples of the extraordinary urban civilisation which developed in the Arabia Felix in the 2nd century B.C. Since the 1970s it has been the object of many studies by urban specialists,
architects and historians, testifying to its outstanding heritage values, and pointing out the threats from the nascent and rapid modernisation affecting its authenticity and integrity after many centuries of almost complete isolation. At the beginning of the 1980s a Campaign and an
Action Plan to preserve the Old City were proposed by UNESCO1, which were launched after its inscription on the World Heritage List in 1986.
Later, an action strategy was set up and partially implemented to safeguard, revitalise and upgrade the historic city2. Several studies pointed to the need to preserve the traditional building techniques, whilst numerous interventions were carried out for the restoration and rehabilitation of some important historic buildings and most of all the improvement of the urban infrastructure. However, effective measures for the conservation and the rehabilitation of the urban fabric are still lacking or seem to be insufficient to address the current rapid and diffuse
changes in functions and meanings.
This publication documents the main outcomes of the studies undertaken in 2003 - 2006, by UNESCO's World Heritage Centre and the General Organisation for the Preservation of the Historic Cities of Yemen (GOPHCY), in order to establish appropriate conservation measures for the Old City World Heritage site and to eventually prepare a Conservation and Rehabilitation Plan, which would include also the other historic settlements in the larger Sana'a metropolitan area.