Inside ancient city dubbed 'Manhattan of the desert' with skyscrapers made from MUD now facing risk of collapse

11/23/2024 03:54 PM

TUCKED away in the middle of Yemen lies an ancient desert city with a unique style of architecture that dates back to the 16th century.

Dubbed the “Manhattan of the Dessert”, the sprawling towers in this city are rather made up of a unique material – mud bricks.

Almost all the buildings of Shibam are built with mud bricks using a technique that is said to have been invented centuries ago.

This architectural style was used to protect residents from Bedouin attacks.

A mixture of soil, hay, and water was turned into bricks and left to bake in the sun for days before being used to make these buildings.

Some 500 of these are tower blocks, which rise five to 11 stories high

The windowless, ground floors were used for livestock and grain storage, while the uppermost levels typically served as communal floors for socializing. 

The walls for these stunning mud towers are a whopping six feet thick at the bottom, with some of the top floors having much thinner walls.

While the tradition of brick buildings dates back to the 8th or 9th century, it's difficult to know when they were first built because of how often they're touched up.

That is because the exterior facade which is often eroded by wind and rain, so they have to be periodically covered with mud.

Each floor traditionally has one or two rooms, and each building ranges between two to eleven storeys high.

Despite being centuries old, these are still used by locals to live and socialise.

But during the last few years, Shibam has been threatened by natural disasters as well as by the war and the terrorism suffered by Yemen.

In 2008, a flood caused severe damage to the buildings.

Afterwards, a restoration program was started. Furthermore, the city has been declared a world heritage in danger by UNESCO because of the war in Yemen. 

Meanwhile, tucked away in a corner of Turkey lies an abandoned village whose residents were forced to leave after ghost sightings.

The town of Kayaköy was once a lively and integrated community of Greek–Turkish people but was left to rot by locals some 100 years ago.

It has now become a true ghost town that sits empty except for tour groups visiting the historical place that failed to stand the test of time.

Most of the houses in the city have now lost their roofs and their collapsed walls sprout with vegetation.

The ruins of houses, churches and other buildings can be found in the city, which was once home to thousands of people before they left the town.

The eerie streets have been left behind, with people able to wander from building to building and have a glimpse at the lives of those who used to live there.

Meanwhile, haunting pictures inside an abandoned ghost town show a once-booming area frozen in time.

Nestled in the hills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, Bodie was established in 1859 as a modest camp after gold was discovered in the region – but the old town now hides a dark curse.

The town in California rose to prominence in 1876 after gold ore attracted settlers, and by 1879 the town had a booming population between 5,000 and 7,000.

In its heyday, the town boasted some 70 saloons, a bowling alley, dance halls, gambling halls, and numerous stores, hotels, and churches.

This time period was characterised by rowdiness, gambling, opium use, and regular, often deadly, bar fights.

But by the 1880s promising booms in Arizona, Montana, and Utah had lured miners away, and the town began to decline.

A small mining community survived, but by the early 20th century most of its mines had closed, and the population had fallen to a few hundred people.

The area was designated a state park in 1962 and welcomes around 200,000 visitors a year.

Legend has it that the Bodie Curse will haunt anyone who removes any of the old artefacts from the town.

Park rangers have even received letters and packages from past visitors hoping to lift the curse by returning what they've stolen.