Bab al-Yemen

The monumental southern gate into the walled old city

The Bab al-Yemen ("Yemen Gate") is the great southern entry to the walled old city — a stone-built arch with arrow-loops and a small mosque set above it, opening onto the main square of the medieval quarter. The current structure dates from the Ottoman period, but a gate has stood here for at least a thousand years and probably much longer.

The square just inside the gate is the busiest space in the old city: a tangle of stalls, money-changers, and porters, and the natural starting point for any first walk into the souks. Outside the gate, the broad open area called Maydan al-Tahrir hosts qat-chewing crowds in the afternoons.

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A story
The gate is one of seven that once pierced the city walls, but the others were largely demolished as Sana'a expanded in the 20th century. Bab al-Yemen survived because it was the busiest, the natural entry from the south — the road that came up from Aden and the coast. Camel caravans were still arriving through the arch into the 1960s.

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