Jibla, a town in Yemen, is also famous as the town of two rivers. In the opinion of many, Jibla is the most beautiful settlement in the country. The rivers, between which Jibla is situated, keep flowing all year round. They never freeze because the temperature in this region rarely falls below 27°C. What is so interesting about this town in Yemen? Without a doubt, tourists come to see its spectacular centuries-old buildings. Mosques in Jibla are also quite unusual – there are separate mosques for men and women. Tourists come to this region to learn more about its history and enjoy a peaceful and calm vacation.
Jibla was founded in 1066. Ali al-Sulayhi was the sultan of Yemen at that time. He made an order to build a new settlement. When the ruler died – this event happened only one year after the foundation of Jibla – his son Ahmad succeeded him. However, the new ruler couldn’t perform his tasks well because he was paralyzed and completely motionless. His wife, Arwa al-Sulayhi, became the ruler. The first thing that she did was to move the capital Sana’a to Jibla.
Qaser Al-Mu’ez or the Palace of Queen Arwa is a spectacular construction built for the only female ruler of Jibla. The gorgeous palace is situated in the old part of the town. Nowadays, the palace is in ruins but even these ruins look spectacular and make it easy to understand how grandiose and large this royal palace was in the past. The Palace of Queen Arwa has four floors and numerous rooms. An interesting fact about the royal palace – the number of rooms in the building is equal to the number of days in a year. This is not just a coincidence. When Queen Arwa stayed in the palace, she slept in a new room every night. This way her enemies couldn’t attack the queen while she was sleeping because they simply didn’t know which room she was sleeping in. The first two floors were dedicated to making swords and spears.
There was a mosque in the western part of the palace. The queen was praying in the mosque. To get to the shrine, the queen was walking on a paved “sultan’s path”. The road passed a garden that was unusual for the country at that time. The houses of Yemeni nobles and a prison were built near the palace. For urgent situations, there was a secret tunnel that connected the palace and Jabal a-Take. When it was decided to move the capital to Jibla and the queen arrived to live in this town, Qaser Al-Mu’ez became the central residence of the al-Sulayhi family until the death of Arwa.
Another prominent landmark in the Yemeni town is also associated with the first and only female ruler of Jibla – the Queen Arwa’s Mosque. There is an opinion that this building was initially an old palace. It was converted to a mosque when Jibla became the new capital of Yemen. The mosque became the mausoleum for the queen when she died at an age of 92. During the reign of Queen Arwa, the mosque was famous as “the Grand Mosque”. As Jibla has a mountain terrain, some buildings stand on hills and are naturally taller. Starting from the opening of the mosque, there was a school in it. The school occupied a separate wing of the building.
Queen Arwa Mosque is a large building with four entrances. If you walk along these entrances, you will notice a wooden door. Take a closer look at the door and you will see that it is entirely covered with quotes from the Quran. There are also two minarets for washing ceremonies. The pool for washing is situated opposite to the entrance. There was no piping system to supply water to the pool. The pool contained rain-water. Sometimes there was so much water in the pool that the surrounding area became flooded.
Yemen doesn’t have a direct airplane connection with many European countries. As a rule, tourists make a change in Istanbul or Dubai. Upon arrival in the capital of Yemen, tourists need to hire a taxi or rent a car. The most important thing to consider – the car must be an off-roader because some parts of the road to Jibla are in poor condition. Naturally, there are intercity buses in the country, and it is possible to reach Jibla using them. That being said, tourists need to take into consideration that local public transport is overcrowded.
Sightseeing in Yemen: things to see
The country became fully independent from the Ottoman Empire only at the beginning of the 20th century. Nowadays, each of those tough historic periods has found its reflection in the culture and traditions of the country. Tribal relations and the cult of family still remain one of the main pillars in the national culture. Yemeni people prefer to live together with their numerous relatives. Families connect generations of people, and every family has a head – the oldest man alive.
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