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Yemen’s Historic Zabid Becomes Latest Casualty of Houthis

A view of the historic city of Zabid in the Hodeidah province. (Local media)
A view of the historic city of Zabid in the Hodeidah province. (Local media)
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Yemen’s Historic Zabid Becomes Latest Casualty of Houthis

A view of the historic city of Zabid in the Hodeidah province. (Local media)
A view of the historic city of Zabid in the Hodeidah province. (Local media)

Despite being declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the Yemeni city of Zabid is facing increased danger due to neglect of the Iran-backed Houthi militias, who run the historic town.

The Houthis have failed to protect and preserve all heritage sites in areas under their control, as seen with the damage to Old Sanaa’s architecture and the risk of further destruction and artifact trafficking.

Recently, heavy rains caused the northern part of the old market’s roof in Zabid, a city in western Hodeidah province, to collapse. Residents have closed off the area to prevent further damage and potential collapses.

Last week, residents of Zabid reported serious damage to the northern part of a historic corridor to local authorities and the Houthi-controlled Historic Cities Preservation Authority, but no significant action has been taken.

Residents have also asked UNESCO to step in and help save the city’s landmarks from being removed from the World Heritage List.

Four years ago, heavy rains caused several archaeological sites to collapse and damaged many homes in Zabid. Cultural activists have called on the UN to protect the city from further harm.

Zabid, which was Yemen’s capital in the 13th to 15th centuries, was listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993 but was moved to the List of World Heritage in Danger in 2000 due to construction violations and damage to its historic sites.

The city was a major intellectual hub in the Islamic world, with 85 Islamic schools representing various religious and philosophical traditions.

Many of these schools still exist and house rare manuscripts and important texts. The city also features historic sites and symbols that highlight its former prominence in the region.

UNESCO plans to restore 400 historic homes in four Yemeni cities this year, with 100 homes in each city: Old Sanaa, Aden, Zabid, and Shibam Hadramawt, according to Khaled Salah, Director of UNESCO’s Gulf States and Yemen office.

Salah revealed discussions with the UN Office for Project Services about urgent sanitation upgrades in Old Sanaa. The outdated sewage system poses a risk of collapse due to unstable ground beneath the homes.

UNESCO is working to encourage donors to increase support for Yemen, focusing on expanding development projects and preserving cultural and historic sites.

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Culture

A Mix of Science and Tradition Helps Restore Relics in China's Forbidden City

Visitors look at elaborate antique clocks displayed on the sprawling compound of the Forbidden City also known as the Palace Museum in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Visitors look at elaborate antique clocks displayed on the sprawling compound of the Forbidden City also known as the Palace Museum in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
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A Mix of Science and Tradition Helps Restore Relics in China's Forbidden City

Visitors look at elaborate antique clocks displayed on the sprawling compound of the Forbidden City also known as the Palace Museum in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Visitors look at elaborate antique clocks displayed on the sprawling compound of the Forbidden City also known as the Palace Museum in Beijing, Friday, Feb. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

It's highly technical work in what looks more like a lab than a museum: A fragment of a glazed roof tile from Beijing’s Forbidden City is analyzed in a state-of-the-art X-ray diffraction machine that produces images, which are then projected onto computer screens.
The fragment being examined has a dark area on its surface that restorers want to understand. Their objective is to better preserve the artifacts at the sprawling imperial palace, the former home of China’s emperors and its seat of power for hundreds of years, The Associated Press reported.
“We want to learn what the black material is," said Kang Baoqiang, one of the restorers at the complex, today a museum that attracts tourists from all over the world. “Whether it’s atmospheric sediment or the result of substantial change from within.”
About 150 workers on the team fuse scientific analysis and traditional techniques to clean, patch up and otherwise revive the more than 1.8 million relics in the museum's collection.
They include scroll paintings, calligraphy, bronzes, ceramics — and, somewhat unexpectedly, ornate antique clocks that were gifted to emperors by early European visitors.
Down the hall from the X-ray room, two other restorers patch up holes on a panel of patterned green silk with the Chinese character for “longevity” sewn into it, carefully adding color in a process called “inpainting.”
The piece is believed to have been a birthday gift to Empress Dowager Cixi, the power behind the throne in the late 19th and early 20th century.
Much of the work is laborious and monotonous — and takes months to complete.
“I don’t have the big dreams of protecting traditional cultural heritage that people talk about," said Wang Nan, one of the restorers. "I simply enjoy the sense of achievement when an antique piece is fixed.”
Now a major tourist site in the heart of Beijing, the Forbidden City is the name that was given to the sprawling compound by foreigners in imperial times because entry was forbidden to most outsiders. It's formally known as the Palace Museum.
Many of its treasures were hurriedly taken away during World War II to keep them from falling into the hands of the invading Japanese army. During a civil war that brought the Communist Party to power in 1949, the defeated Nationalists took many of the most prized pieces to Taiwan, where they are now housed in the National Palace Museum.
Beijing's Palace Museum has since rebuilt its collection.
Restoration techniques have also evolved, said Qu Feng, head of the museum’s Conservation Department, though the old ways remain the foundation of the work.
When we preserve an antique piece, we “protect the cultural values it carries,” Qu said. "And that is our ultimate goal.”