Shivam, the world’s first ‘Skyscrapers City’

This city is often called the First Skyscraper City in the World and “the Manhattan of the Desert.” Founded some 1,800 years ago the city was once the capital of the Hadramawt Kingdom in what is now eastern Yemen.

However, most of the current city dates from the 1500’s CE, its buildings having been restored and rebuilt numerous times in the proceeding centuries. Today approximately 7,000 residents call the city home in an area of only 9 hectares or 1,2km/2.

It is believed that the density of city and the towers are a defensive measure which, along with the Walls of Shibam, protected the city from Bedouin raids. All of the houses of Shibam are built of mud brick typical of the region. Some 500 towers exist within the walls which rise from 5 to 11 stories in height.