The Yemen Chronicles Part 3- Dar Al Hajar

I'll give you guys a break from the endless mountain pictures and show you Dar Al-Hajar.. it's a former palace of one of the Imams of North Yemen. This palace is quite famous throughout Yemen and much of the Arab world. Anyways, my cousin Maher drove me down to check it out..




Ok, just one picture of mountains! Or maybe two.. this is on the way there..



This is Wadi Dhahr.. After taking this picture I was approached by two falconers..or falconeers ..however u call them.. those people with the falcons on their hands! In the mountains it's very common to see predator birds..

If one looks closely.. one will notice a large building on the left hand side of the picture. It sort of blends into the mountain... THAT is Dar Al-Hajar..


Here's a closer look!

Imam Yahya built this palace in the 1930's.. it was intended to be a pleasant summer palace.. He actually built it ontop of the ruins of a prehistoric building.. The prehistoric part looks cave-like in the picture..



This used to be the Imam's swimming pool.. The building opposite is a majlis.. A place where people get together, socialize and lazily lie on pillows.


This is one of the barracks that the Imam had built on one of the surrounding mountain tops.. I think there were 7 in total.

This Imam tried to keep Yemen closed off from the rest of the world.. I read somewhere that he kept the country's national treasury under his bed! Eventually he was assassinated in an attempted coup. (In San'a I saw the car that he was shot in at the national war museum.. I could feel the glass and the bullet holes... I think he survived the car shooting.. but was murdered later on.. or maybe i'm thinking of a different guy)




This is the prehistoric part of the palace... I believe this was an ancient burial room.



This is one of the many rooms.. my cousin Maher is poking his head in one of the closets. Some of the closets doubled as small rooms. They were used as hiding places when the palace was in danger. The Imam would sleep in the closet..and one of his goons would sleep in his bed.

When sunlight passes through these Qamarias (the thing above the window) it lights up the room in a beautiful array of colour.



This is a cool little closet.. if u've noticed they are above the ground... to get into this one you pull these wooden steps out of the wall.



I think this is where the Imam dried his laundry. Do u see one of the barracks in the distance?



I was told those imprints in the floor are actually footprints from Queen Sheba's time.. Apparently the people had huge feet back in those days.



I believe this is where they made their bread.



Yes I'm arguing with one of my imaginary friends..

This is one of the majlis rooms.. There were a few in this palace.. The Imam had one for women and one for men.. he also had winter and summer ones. The summer majlis was cooler inside than the winter one simply due to its location in the palace.



This is one of the palaces refridgerators..



These holes are for rifles, so the Imam's guards can shoot any dangerous solicitors.



Ahhh.. this is where the Imam would sit every morning to dry himself off after a good morning bath. It was pretty comfortable.



This is a window from the roof, it has wood along the bottom so women can look down without being seen.

Anyways.. its late, and im tired.. so goodnight... i'll post some more pictures soon. Take care ya'll.