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UNESCO, EU Restore Historic Houses in Four Yemeni Cities

"Some of the homes in Old Sanaa after restoration (General Organization for the Preservation of the Historic Cities of Yemen)
"Some of the homes in Old Sanaa after restoration (General Organization for the Preservation of the Historic Cities of Yemen)
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UNESCO, EU Restore Historic Houses in Four Yemeni Cities

"Some of the homes in Old Sanaa after restoration (General Organization for the Preservation of the Historic Cities of Yemen)
"Some of the homes in Old Sanaa after restoration (General Organization for the Preservation of the Historic Cities of Yemen)

In partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Yemen’s Social Fund for Development has restored hundreds of damaged historic houses and landmarks in the cities of Shibam, old Sanaa, Zabid and Aden.

Funded by the European Union, the restoration project aims at preserving the Yemeni heritage and creating job opportunities for young Yemenis.

In addition to houses restoration, the project also seeks the rehabilitation of the sewage network that requires an urgent intervention in old Sanaa.

Local sources reported that UNESCO is urging donors to increase their funds for Yemen in 2024 to expand the development and culture projects and preserve heritage, landmarks and historic cities.

According to UNESCOS’s General Authority for the Preservation of Historic Cities, the historic city of Zabid, listed as a UNESCO Human Heritage, is among the most damaged in the country. It embraces 12,000 buildings, including 4962 ancient houses that have been violated or destroyed. Part of Al Hodeidah governorate, Zabid features 27 schools and 86 historic mosques as well.

Data also show that many landmarks in the historic city collapsed, while there are 46 damaged buildings that require a quick intervention to save them from collapse. Some of these buildings are over 600 years old.

 

In addition to preserving historic buildings, the project focuses on the social aspects by integrating the younger Yemenis in the restoration process. It also aims at creating jobs for 8,000 young men and women.

The project offers training and funds for the organizations active in the cultural field. Young Yemenis are taking part in restoring and rehabilitating over 500 historic buildings in three endangered World Heritage sites in Sanaa, Shibam and Zabid, as part of the awareness campaigns promoting the importance of protecting the Yemeni heritage.

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Gaza Heritage and Destruction on Display in Paris

This photograph shows antiques on display during the installation of the archaeological heritage exhibition "Treasures saved from Gaza - 5000 years of history" (Tresors sauves de Gaza - 5000 ans d'histoire) at the Institut du Monde Arabe, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
This photograph shows antiques on display during the installation of the archaeological heritage exhibition "Treasures saved from Gaza - 5000 years of history" (Tresors sauves de Gaza - 5000 ans d'histoire) at the Institut du Monde Arabe, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
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Gaza Heritage and Destruction on Display in Paris

This photograph shows antiques on display during the installation of the archaeological heritage exhibition "Treasures saved from Gaza - 5000 years of history" (Tresors sauves de Gaza - 5000 ans d'histoire) at the Institut du Monde Arabe, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)
This photograph shows antiques on display during the installation of the archaeological heritage exhibition "Treasures saved from Gaza - 5000 years of history" (Tresors sauves de Gaza - 5000 ans d'histoire) at the Institut du Monde Arabe, in Paris, on March 31, 2025. (Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP)

A new exhibition opening in Paris on Friday showcases archaeological artifacts from Gaza, once a major commercial crossroads between Asia and Africa, whose heritage has been ravaged by Israel's ongoing onslaught.

Around a hundred artifacts, including a 4,000-year-old bowl, a sixth-century mosaic from a Byzantine church and a Greek-inspired statue of Aphrodite, are on display at the Institut du Monde Arabe.

The rich and mixed collection speaks to Gaza's past as a cultural melting pot, but the show's creators also wanted to highlight the contemporary destruction caused by the war, sparked by Hamas's attack on Israel in October 2023, AFP reported.

"The priority is obviously human lives, not heritage," said Elodie Bouffard, curator of the exhibition, which is titled "Saved Treasures of Gaza: 5,000 Years of History".

"But we also wanted to show that, for millennia, Gaza was the endpoint of caravan routes, a port that minted its own currency, and a city that thrived at the meeting point of water and sand," she told AFP.

One section of the exhibition documents the extent of recent destruction.

Using satellite image, the UN's cultural agency UNESCO has already identified damage to 94 heritage sites in Gaza, including the 13th-century Pasha's Palace.

Bouffard said the damage to the known sites as well as treasures potentially hidden in unexplored Palestinian land "depends on the bomb tonnage and their impact on the surface and underground".

"For now, it´s impossible to assess."

The attacks by Hamas militants on Israel in 2023 left 1,218 dead. In retaliation, Israeli operations have killed more than 50,000 Palestinians and devastated the densely populated territory.

The story behind "Gaza´s Treasures" is inseparable from the ongoing wars in the Middle East.

At the end of 2024, the Institut du Monde Arabe was finalising an exhibition on artifacts from the archaeological site of Byblos in Lebanon, but Israeli bombings on Beirut made the project impossible.

"It came to a sudden halt, but we couldn´t allow ourselves to be discouraged," said Bouffard.

The idea of an exhibition on Gaza´s heritage emerged.

"We had just four and a half months to put it together. That had never been done before," she explained.

Given the impossibility of transporting artifacts out of Gaza, the Institut turned to 529 pieces stored in crates in a specialized Geneva art warehouse since 2006. The works belong to the Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank.

The Oslo Accords of 1993, signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel, helped secure some of Gaza's treasures.

In 1995, Gaza´s Department of Antiquities was established, which oversaw the first archaeological digs in collaboration with the French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem (EBAF).

Over the years, excavations uncovered the remains of the Monastery of Saint Hilarion, the ancient Greek port of Anthedon, and a Roman necropolis - traces of civilizations spanning from the Bronze Age to Ottoman influences in the late 19th century.

"Between Egypt, Mesopotamian powers, and the Hasmoneans, Gaza has been a constant target of conquest and destruction throughout history," Bouffard noted.

In the 4th century BC, Greek leader Alexander the Great besieged the city for two months, leaving behind massacres and devastation.

Excavations in Gaza came to a standstill when Hamas took power in 2007 and Israel imposed a blockade.

Land pressure and rampant building in one of the world's most densely populated areas has also complicated archaeological work.

And after a year and a half of war, resuming excavations seems like an ever-more distant prospect.

The exhibition runs until November 2, 2025.