Zabīd

Zabid (Arabic زبيد, Zabīd DMG ) is a city in the coastal region of the Red Sea ( Tihama ) in Yemen. After Bayt al -Faqih it is named the largest city in the Tihama and Wadi Zabid on the south. The city is located in the center of an agricultural plain, about 100 kilometers southeast of the port city of al - Hudaydah. The provincial town is home to nearly 30,000 residents.

History

Zabid was founded by Mohammed Ibn Ziyad 819. This also laid the foundation stone of the university system in the city and is responsible for outstanding academic achievement in the Arab world in the field of algebra. Zabid gained thereby quickly the reputation as city of scholars. In its heyday under the Rasulids the university offered 5,000 places. To this day, the seat of religious Shafi ʿ ites of the University, one of the four Sunni schools of law in Zabid.

From this year to 819, to 1018 it was the capital of the Ziyadid Dynasty. After the assassination of Ziyadiden ruler Zabid fell to the Nadschahid Dynasty. Their capital was from 1022 to 1158. From the 13th to the 15th Century Zabid was the capital of Yemen.

In 1763, the explorer Carsten Niebuhr visited the city.

Cityscape

Within the former city wall, of which the four city gates are preserved, the closely built houses of the old town are ( Medina ). Worth seeing are the mosque on the west and the ruins of the former University (al- Bayshiya ). Predominant is built of fired mud bricks. The houses are low, at most one storey. The facade is dominated by a front door and - broken two windows - these flanking. A special penchant for ornaments and ornament on friezes fall. With stucco richly decorated. The facades are often white -washed.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Due to its historical and cultural importance of the city of Zabid was declared in 1993 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Due to poor restoration and maintenance since 2000 it belongs to the Red List of World Heritage in Danger. The historic souq in the old city center is no longer used, many buildings have been replaced by modern concrete structures.