Tower houses of mud brick and white gypsum
Sanaa lies at around 2,300 metres in the Yemeni highlands and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Its walled old city is famous for its multi-storey tower houses of rammed earth and brick, their façades decorated with white gypsum friezes and arched windows of stained glass called qamariya. The Great Mosque dates back to the early Islamic period, and the Bab al-Yemen gate opens onto the Souq al-Milh, a market of spices, raisins and jambiya daggers.