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These Are The Oldest Skyscrapers In The World (Which Far Predate Their Modern Cousins)
Built hundreds of years ago and carefully maintained today
Skyscrapers are seen as a wholly modern invention. It is impossible to consider building a skyscraper out of anything but gleaming glass and structural steel. But in one city, hiding in the deserts of Yemen, there are high-rise buildings which stretch over ten and even eleven stories high that were built hundreds of years before the first modern skyscrapers were drawn up in the Western Hemisphere.
The walled city of Shibam, located in central Yemen, has been continuously inhabited for over 1,700 years. The city is home to a remarkable sight. At first glance, the city looks like many other Middle Eastern cities found in Yemen, Oman, and Syria, with dusty streets and towering mudbrick buildings.
Unlike other cities, these mudbrick highrises are ancient and not modern. To the untrained eye, the highrise blocks in Shibam will appear modern. But they are anything but. Many of the buildings found in Shibam are hundreds of years old and are some of the oldest and tallest mudbrick buildings in existence today. That is why Shibam has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
