Yemen is different. For all its many woes  wars, a water crisis and the rise of Al Qaeda  the country’s adherence to ancient traditions often makes it feel like a refuge. Even outside the Old City, the bands and crescents of medieval Yemeni architecture can be seen on many newer buildings and homes, along with the translucent alabaster windows known as gammariyas.

The traditions stayed alive largely because of Yemen’s deep poverty and long isolation. Until 1962, north Yemen had been ruled for almost a millennium by xenophobic imams who tried to shut out all foreign influence. The country largely missed the urban renewal phase of Arab history, in which kings and presidents cleared out ancient neighborhoods and markets in an effort to bring their nations into the modern age. By the early 1980s, when Yemen was still emerging from its medieval slumber, preservation was already in vogue.

There was much to preserve. This country has been famous for its unique architecture ever since Sabaean rulers built the skyscraper palace of Ghumdan 1,800 years ago, celebrated by one medieval poet thus:

It rises, climbing into the midst of the sky

twenty floors of no mean height

wound with a turban of white cloud

and girdled in alabaster.

Architects rediscovering the Old City soon found there was more than beauty at stake. The traditional houses were also more durable and effective than concrete-based modern houses, and better suited to the climate.

Image Workers collected mud bricks that will be reused during the remodeling of a traditional building in the Old City of Sana. Credit... Bryan Denton for The New York Times

“The traditional houses have many environmental advantages,” said Abdulla Zaid Ayssa, the director of the government office that oversees all building and renovation in the Old City.