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A Yemeni laborer works on the restoration of a UNESCO-listed building in the old city of Sana'a, Yemen, 12 June 2022. Dozens of workers, architects and senior master builders are engaged in urban renovation works since early June 2022 in the old quarter of the Yemeni capital Sana'a, using traditional methods and materials for maintaining its architectural style. The much needed emergency restoration is taking place after unusual torrential rains and a Saudi-led airstrike brought extensive damage to several buildings across the old city over the past few years. The old city of Sana'a was listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1986 as an outstanding expression of Yemen's Arab and Muslim traditional culture. In July 2015, it was inducted to the list of World Heritage in danger due to the damage caused to its cultural heritage. A Saudi-led airstrike targeted an old neighborhood of Sana'a in 2015, destroying completely four historic buildings and killing five people. Three other buildings collapsed, 50 others were severely hit. More than 1,000 buildings have leaky roofs due to heavy rains and associated floods of April and August 2020, according to assessments by the General Organization for the Preservation of Historic Cities in Yemen (GOPHCY). The restoration project, that is funded by the European Union (EU) through UNESCO, is within a 20-million euro agreement signed in March 2022 by the EU and UNESCO for safeguarding Yemen's unique cultural heritage in four provinces across the war-ridden country with its historical richness and cultural and folklore variety. That includes the old city of Sana'a which is a dense warren of centuries-old mud-brick houses. The project focuses on rehabilitation work, urgent interventions and regulatory protection of distinctive multi-story tower buildings. The old city, located in a mountainous valley over 7,200 feet above sea level, was an important center of Islam throughout the 7th and 8th cent. (Photo by Yahya Arhab/EPA/EFE)
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