The arid lands of Yemen alternate with river valleys, along which cities and villages are built. These river valleys are called "wadis". Wadi Hadhramaut and Wadi Dawan are two such river valleys located in the eastern and central parts of Yemen.
What makes the towns and villages along these river valleys special is their unique building architecture. These are multi-storey buildings with wooden floors and walls made of clay bricks.
All buildings are tightly “packed” to each other. They are mostly built on plateaus and huge rocks. Whenever it rains or floods occur, buildings become weaker and require constant repairs.
The city of Shibam is called the “Manhattan of the desert” because of its skyscrapers, which look unusual on the surrounding plateau.
The city is surrounded by an earthen rampart and its buildings have been called "the oldest skyscrapers in the world" as they are considered one of the best examples of urban planning using space efficiently through vertical construction. In 1982, Shibam received the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Shibam, the most famous city in the Wadi Hadhramaut valley, has a population of 7 thousand and 500 adobe buildings ranging from 5 to 11 floors.
Grain is usually stored on the lower floors of buildings. The rooms on the second floor are used by men for socializing, the upper floors are reserved for women, and are also intended for family use, and sometimes even equipped with bridges to connect to other buildings - mainly for the convenience of older people.
The city was founded in the 3rd century AD. Although most of the buildings from that time were destroyed during floods in the 16th century, some are still standing.
For example, the Friday Mosque was built in 904. Due to rain and erosion, the buildings were rebuilt several times over the centuries, and were covered with sealants to protect them. Shibam is an autonomous city with educational institutions, commercial and administrative buildings and seven mosques. He even had to serve as the capital of the Hadhramaut region several times, until 1940, when a large airport was built in the neighboring city of Saywun, and all business moved there.
Wadi Dawan, a tributary of Wadi Hadhramaut, also boasts beautiful architecture.
The Wadi Dawan Valley has several picturesque villages: Al Mashad, Al Hajara, Al Khuraiba and Khailla. Al Mashad is home to the 15th-century tomb of Hassan ibn Hassan and is a local center of pilgrimage, although the village itself is sparsely populated. In the architecture of the Wadi Davan valley, in addition to raw clay bricks, cement was also used, which made the buildings stronger and more durable.
Ancient adobe buildings were erected by different peoples in their permanent habitats. The first buildings appeared on earth more than five thousand years ago. Residential buildings, palaces and fortress walls of Mesopotamia, Babylonia and Troy were made of clay.
The adobe buildings that have reached us have a more recent history. Many of them were built in the 7th-17th centuries on the territory of the most different countries and continents. Red-brown structures rise in the lands of Latin America and North Africa, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Clay construction was characteristic of both Indian and Islamic cultures.
All adobe buildings can be divided into two types. The first includes single structures, which are buildings with a specific functional purpose - religious sites (mainly mosques and mausoleums), palaces, and residential buildings. The second type of adobe buildings is an urban complex, located over a large area and consisting of a huge number of different architectural elements.
Inside the adobe city there may be palaces and mosques, residential buildings and caravanserais, baths and watchtowers. The city itself can be surrounded by a high fortress wall, protecting it from enemy invasion. In ancient cities there could be several such walls.
The walls of adobe structures were erected up to a meter or more wide. The roofs of buildings could have either flat, pointed or carved shapes. In ancient cities, everything around was covered with clay - red-brown houses smoothly turned into narrow streets connected by arches, and their roofs formed a bizarre architectural pattern of open street terraces.
All adobe buildings, according to their physical structure, can be divided into three types: adobe roller (within the framework of this technology, buildings were sculpted from clay), brick and including other building elements (usually wood, straw or plant fibers). When constructing buildings made of clay bricks, the same clay was used as a connecting link - only liquid.
Ancient clay buildings.
1. Taos Pueblo, USA
In the state of New Mexico, in the settlement of Taos Pueblo, structures aged 900 years or more have been preserved. Their curved and cone-shaped walls are made of clay (called Kalisz) with the addition of cut straw. Thick walls, like large jugs, keep the room dry and warm. The plastered outer surface of buildings and cedar wooden elements will prolong the life of environmentally friendly and safe buildings for a long time. In this amazing adobe multi-story residential complex About 150 people live permanently.
2. Arg-é Bam, Iran
Arg-e Bam is a World Heritage Site, which is the largest adobe fortress with an area of 6 km2, located in the Iranian city of Bam, surrounded by a 10-15 m moat. The oldest Bam citadel, which was located on the Silk Road, was founded in the Sasanian period (224-637 AD). The oldest building is the “Maiden Fortress”, on the territory of which there are 38 watchtowers, mausoleums, a cathedral mosque, and a room for making ice. The irrigation system and underground passages provided safe living for 12,000 inhabitants.
3. Djinguereber Mosque, Mali
The Djinguereber Defensive Cathedral Mosque was built in 1325 in the city of Timbuktu, located in West Africa. Since 1988 it has been included in. Fiber, straw, clay and wood were used to build Jinguereber. The object consists of 2 minarets, 3 rooms, a prayer hall for 2000 people and 25 wooden columns oriented from east to west. There is a fear that the architectural monument may absorb sand. Since 2006, restoration work has been ongoing on its territory, funded by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture.
4. The ancient city of Itchan Kala in Khiva (Itchan Kala), Uzbekistan
Ichan-Kala is the former capital of the Khorezm oasis, a historical and archaeological reserve, a walled open-air museum with an area of 26 hectares. The fortifications, 2250 long, 8-10 m high and 6-8 m wide, were built in 1526. According to legend, the idea of founding the settlement originally belonged to Shem, the eldest son of Noah. Dried adobe bricks were used to create defensive ramparts. Clay is extracted from. According to legend, the Prophet Muhammad used the same source to build Medina. The clay wall has four gates, oriented to the cardinal directions and fortified with shock towers. The wall has jagged railings with embrasures for guns. The fortress is surrounded by a deep ditch. There are 60 unique historical monuments located on the territory of Ichan-Kala.
5. Chan Chan, Peru
Chan Chan is an ancient royal city, built 700 years ago from unfired clay. At one time it was the largest cultural center located in a convenient strategic location. Talented Chinooks erected 15-meter walls around Chan-Chan, protecting the territory from winds and enemy attacks. On the walls are depictions of sea deities revered by the Chinooks, shaped like fish. Fragments of the magnificent palace architecture of raw clay bricks decorated with persistent holes still remain. In the fifteenth century, with the help of military stratagem, the city was conquered by the Incas, seeking to expand their empire.
6. Bobo Dioulasso Grand Mosque, Burkina Faso
The Great Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso is located in the state of Burkina Faso (West Africa). It was built in 1800 near the Ue River, where sacred catfish live. For the construction of the religious building, clay mixed with wood was used. The temple is located on the outskirts of the city and is subject to the destructive effects of bad weather. Today it is being restored. There are many red-colored adobe buildings in the city, called huts.
7. Siwa Oasis, Egypt
Siwa Oasis is a mysterious and remote oasis in Egypt, adjacent to the Libyan border to the west. The main attractions of the city are the Shali fortress and the ruins of the temple of Amon-Ra, in which the oracle predicted the divine path of Alexander the Great. Near the cliff stood a second temple, now completely destroyed. The buildings are made of clay and unique sand with a high salt content. Convenient geographical position brought wealth and prosperity to the city, but with the collapse of the Roman Empire the situation worsened sharply. Today Berbers live here. Until recently, Siwa was closed to the public, but today it is one of the most visited tourist centers in Egypt.
8. Great Mosque of Djenné, Mali
The Great Mosque of Djenne is the largest building built from clay. The facility is located in Mali on the banks of the Bani River. Its foundation is made in the shape of a square measuring 75x75 m. The first version of the temple, built in the 13th century, was destroyed by the leader Sekou Amadou in the 19th century during the conquest of the city. The reconstruction of the site was carried out by the French administration in 1907 using fragments of the surviving building. The adobe walls were covered with tiles, and modern communications were installed into the premises, which influenced the original historical style, but did not at all deteriorate the magnificent appearance of the Great Mosque.
Ait Benhaddou is a fortified city in southern Morocco, a World Heritage Site since 1987. The caravan route to Timbuktu ran through its territory. Over the years, it fell into complete disrepair and the inhabitants of Ait-Ben almost completely abandoned the area. Traditional Moroccan architecture made of red-brown clay and a labyrinth of buildings connected by narrow passages and arches have been of great interest to tourists and movie directors. Many famous films such as Gladiator and Star Wars were filmed in the area. The territory of the village is fenced with a high clay wall; in the internal buildings there are small hotels, shops, a museum and houses of local residents.
The city of Shibam, located among the lifeless desert of the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen, is called the “Manhattan of the desert”. It suddenly appears before the eyes of tourists, like a mirage. Shibam is the former capital of the ancient kingdom of Hadhramaut. After the destruction of the Marib Dam and the loss of transport significance, residents in the 16th century began to build 4-9 and even 16-story fortified houses with thick clay walls, behind which people lived, animals were kept, and household supplies were stored. This is how Shibam defended itself from Bedouin raids. Today, the buildings are maintained in good condition and are constantly being restored.
Against the background of the prevailing stereotype about a bathhouse as a building made of logs, bricks or foam blocks, a bathhouse made of clay, adobe, and clay blocks looks like a return to the last century. However, natural materials have excellent thermal insulation characteristics. To understand the advantages of a clay box, it is worth at least remembering houses with adobe walls made of shingles and adobe.
Is it possible to make a bathhouse out of clay turk?
At first glance, lump and clay are not the most best materials for the construction of a bathhouse, especially a steam room. And the point here is not that wood treated with clay mortar does not withstand wet steam and temperature well. If the technology is followed, the walls of the bathhouse can withstand the conditions of dry hot steam, and in some cases you can steam in a Russian steam room.
Usually, enthusiasts of building a bathhouse from all kinds of alternative materials when constructing a box face more serious difficulties:
- A clay chock is a piece of log in the form of a log or chopped chock. When laying walls from such material, it is very difficult to create even planes and maintain the geometry of the bathhouse box, especially in the corners of the room. Therefore, the building is usually built in a round shape;
- Effective insulation of the walls of a clay bath from soaking by surface groundwater. Often it is necessary to lift the building onto a stone or brick strip and insulate the base with rolled materials.
A bathhouse based on clay pots is built with a central location of the stove. The surface of the walls and the ends of the chocks are rubbed with thin clay, which practically does not absorb water. At the end of the steam bath procedures, the hot stove perfectly dries the interior of the bathhouse.
Bathhouse made of clay and wood
A bathhouse made of clay, slightly unusual in its design, attracts attention with its simplicity of design, environmental friendliness of the material and enormous possibilities in the implementation of the most daring and unusual forms of the building.
Clay burr, photo, is sawn or chopped pieces of a pine or spruce trunk from which the bark and knots have been removed.
After adjusting the sizes construction material for a bath, it is soaked in an anti-rot solution, wiped with liquid clay with a small admixture of ammonia and dried in the shade. The result is a clay pot that is damp to the touch, which does not burn or rot. For the basement of the bathhouse, burnt wood is used. If the soil is dry, with a low level groundwater, then the clay box can be placed directly on the site with the top soil cover removed.
Building a clay bathhouse with your own hands makes sense for two reasons:
- A very simple technology for constructing a box at home. It may take more time to build than using traditional materials, but even novice builders can handle the work;
- Low cost of building a bathhouse and cheap materials. Logs and clay binder for making clay pots can be obtained from the nearby forest and quarry.
Of course, in such a steam room the level of amenities is far from wooden and, especially, brick buildings. But, in any case, the bathhouse turns out to be unusually warm and easy to breathe. Even if it was built by amateurs. According to reviews, such a bathhouse simply treats colds, aching joints and stiffness.
For your information! The heat of the hot atmosphere in a bathhouse made of clay or adobe is much easier to bear than in a wooden steam room, and the effect is comparable to the heater of a Russian stove.
Building a foundation for a bathhouse box
This technology has one more drawback - the weakness of the box. If you install chock walls on clay soil, then after a month or two the bathhouse frame will simply corrode.
It is best to build a room on a base made of rubble stone, laid in the ground to a depth of 20-30 cm.
Through masonry A lot of heat is always lost, so the inside of the base is lined with a masonry mixture, or formwork is installed and covered with baked clay.
On a slope, it is best to use logs for a bathhouse. columnar foundation and wooden flooring.
Walls and roof of a bathhouse made of clay
For laying chocks treated with clay, a special mixture is prepared, to which horse manure, fatty clay, and chopped rye straw are added. To finish an indoor bathhouse, instead of manure, you can use a small addition of cement, jute or flax fiber.
If the thickness of the bathhouse walls does not exceed 30 cm, or the box is to be built on a difficult terrain, it is advisable to install a frame of logs and beams before laying the block. For large buildings, shingles or lattice are used for laying clay pots. Long slats packed onto the inner surface of the bathhouse walls make it easier to control the thickness and geometry of the wall masonry.
Before laying out the clay pot, adobe masses are applied to the upper part of the wall masonry in “sausages” in two rows. One row along the edge of the outer surface. The second is rubbed in the same way from the inside of the wall.
Thus, an empty space is formed inside the wall masonry between the clay pots, due to which the walls have good thermal insulation and excellent permeability of water vapor. The bathhouse does not freeze even in damp winter weather.
Bathhouse made of wood and cement
A similar principle of double-row laying of the binder is best used in the construction of bathhouse walls based on clay and cement. The presence of voids is extremely important when using cement mortar; moisture is removed well and there are no cracks in the walls. The box is much stronger than on adobe clay, so the bathhouse can be built in a more traditional rectangular or square design.
The outer surface of the walls is not plastered; the ends of the clay mortar remain as a natural decoration. Inside the bathhouse, the walls are rubbed with a thin layer of sand-cement plaster.
One of the disadvantages of buildings using clay and cement mortar is the shrinkage of the building. And although, thanks to the presence of lumps in the masonry, shrinkage processes are less noticeable, experts still recommend:
- Be sure to place a rigid bathhouse box on a strip foundation;
- The height of the walls made of clay should be limited to 3.5-4 m, otherwise the clay will deform inside the masonry and the wooden liner will peel off from the cement base;
- The bathhouse box, built from clay and cement mortar, should be kept for a month until the stage of laying the ceiling and roof.
As a stove for a cement-chock bath, you can use ordinary steel potbelly stoves. If masonry made of adobe and clay needs to be protected from the heat of the stove, then a cement wall copes with the thermal load much better.
Bathhouse made of adobe
Of all the known materials used for the construction of houses and baths, adobe is considered the most versatile and best suited for furnishing residential premises, a small bathhouse, an outbuilding, and even a cellar with a glacier.
Construction adobe is somewhat different from the masonry mixture used to fasten the clay pot. Saman adobe is a mixture of clay, horse manure and chopped, well-dried straw. The proportions are approximately 10:2:2. The mixture is soaked for a day, covered with straw and kept in a waterlogged state. Next, the batch is interrupted and mixed either with bare feet or with a special tool for several hours.
After molding, the blocks are dried in the shade, just like clay pots. Sometimes they make facing adobe with the addition of lime, sand and cement for lining and strengthening the basement of the walls of the bathhouse. This material is dried for two weeks in the sun, achieving brick hardness of the surface.
When laying walls, the ends of the adobe blocks are moistened with water, rubbed with a special brush and installed on a clay mortar. Simultaneously with the construction of walls in the bathhouse, windows and doorways are installed, and the floor is laid on blocks.
As in the case of using clay pots, indoor walls are rubbed with liquid clay and lime, external walls are sheathed with slats, clapboard or siding.
Straw bath
The fashion for using environmentally friendly materials for a bathhouse or home has also affected straw. The building box can be constructed in two ways. In the first case, the walls of the bathhouse are erected using frame technology, but instead of mineral fiber insulation, blocks of pressed straw are laid inside.
The second method involves using straw felt. Typically, the material is made by pressing a wet mixture of straw, clay, cut or crushed reeds and jute fibers. The resulting material is appearance resembling felt or straw mats.
Pressed straw conveniently insulates the roof of a clay bathhouse; it does not allow water to pass through, and water vapor encounters virtually no resistance. The only drawback is the need to use special chemicals for the roof of the bathhouse that repel mice, rats, insects and birds.
1. Country of two rivers. Valley of the Euphrates River. Modern landscape. Photo It lies between two large rivers, the Euphrates and the Tigris. Hence its name Mesopotamia or Mesopotamia. The soils in Southern Mesopotamia are surprisingly fertile. Just like the Nile in Egypt, the rivers gave life and prosperity to this warm country. But the river floods occurred violently: sometimes streams of water fell on villages and pastures, demolishing both dwellings and cattle pens. It was necessary to build embankments along the banks so that the flood would not wash away the crops in the fields. Canals were dug to irrigate fields and gardens. States arose here at approximately the same time as in the Nile Valley, more than five thousand years ago.
2. Cities made of clay bricks. Ziggurat and Sumerian city. Reconstruction Many settlements of ancient farmers, growing, turned into cities and centers of small states. Cities usually stood on the banks of a river or near a canal. Residents sailed between them on boats woven from flexible branches and covered with leather. Of the many cities, the largest were Ur and Uruk.
2. Cities made of clay bricks. Ziggurat Hurray. Modern look In the Southern Mesopotamia there are no mountains or forests, which means there could be no construction made of stone and wood. Palaces, temples, and residential buildings were all built here from large clay bricks. The tree was expensive wooden doors They were available only in rich houses; in poor houses the entrance was covered with a mat. There was little fuel in Mesopotamia, and the bricks were not burned, but simply dried in the sun. Unbaked brick crumbles easily, so the defensive city wall had to be made so thick that a cart could drive across the top.
3. Towers from earth to sky. Shamash Above the squat city buildings rose a stepped tower, the ledges of which rose to the sky. This is what the temple of the city's patron god looked like. In one city it was, for example, the sun god Shamash, in another the moon god Sin. Everyone revered the god of water, Ea, because he nourishes the fields with moisture, gives people bread and life. People turned to the goddess of fertility and love Ishtar with requests for rich grain harvests and the birth of children. Sin EaIshtar
3. Towers from earth to sky. Figurine of a Sumerian priest. Only priests were allowed to climb to the top of the tower in the sanctuary. Those who remained at the foot believed that the priests there were talking with the gods. On these towers, the priests monitored the movements of the heavenly gods: the Sun and the Moon. They made a calendar, calculating the dates lunar eclipses. People's fates were predicted by the stars. Scientist-priests also studied mathematics. They considered the number 60 sacred. Under the influence of the ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia, we divide the hour into 60 minutes, and the circle into 360 degrees.
4. Writings on clay tablets. Clay tablet with cuneiform writing. 3rd millennium BC While excavating the ancient cities of Mesopotamia, archaeologists find tablets covered with wedge-shaped icons. These icons are pressed onto a soft clay tablet with the end of a specially pointed stick. To impart hardness, the inscribed tablets were usually fired in a kiln. Wedge-shaped icons are a special script of Mesopotamia, cuneiform.
4. Writings on clay tablets. Transformation of drawings into cuneiform characters. Each sign in cuneiform comes from a design and often represents a whole word, for example: star, leg, plow. But many signs expressing short monosyllabic words were also used to convey a combination of sounds or syllables. For example, the word “mountain” sounded like “kur” and the icon “mountain” also expressed the syllable “kur”, as in our puzzles.
4. Writings on clay tablets. There are several hundred characters in cuneiform, and learning to read and write in Mesopotamia was no less difficult than in Egypt. For many years it was necessary to attend the school of scribes. Lessons continued daily from sunrise to sunset. The boys diligently rewrote ancient myths and tales, the works of learned astrologers and the laws of kings. At the head of the school was a man who was respectfully called the “father of the school,” while the students were considered “sons of the school.” And one of the school workers was literally called: “a man with a stick”; he monitored discipline.
