the restoration of a sixteenth-century madrasa in the Yemen

This site is still under construction. In the near future additional sections will be added, including a virtual version of the museum that is being installed in the Amiriya. In the meantime, please look around this site as a demonstration of what's to come.

The 'Amiriya Madrasa in Rada, one of the largest monuments in Yemen, was commissioned by Sultan 'Amir bin abd al-Wahab of the Tahirid Dynasty. All in all, the 'Amiriya is the most flamboyantly ornate monument in the Yemen, a profusion of domes, arches, and niches on the outside, and a decorated delight on the inside, with superb carved stucco patterns and inscriptions and extraordinary painted frescoes whose colors were still vibrant, even after 500 years of neglect.

By the early 1980's the 'Amiriya was in a very advanced state of disintegration. To save it from imminent collapse, a bilateral agreement was signed between the Netherlands and Yemeni governments in which they agreed to restore the building and share the costs of the work. The actual restoration work was undertaken by traditional craftsmen under the guidance of a master stone mason, usta Izzi Mohammad Gas'a, using only traditional methods. After the initial restoration work in the early 1980's, a second more intensive and comprehensive series of restoration campaigns were conducted from 1996 through the late spring of 2005, under the general supervision of Dr. Selma al-Radi and Mr. Yahya Al-Nasiri, Director of Antiquities for Beidha Governorate.

The physical restoration of the building has now been completed, its infrastructure services have been upgraded, a site museum has been installed on the ground floor, the carved stucco decoration in the prayer hall has been cleaned, and the mural paintings inside the prayer hall's six domes have been conserved by the Italian firm CCA. The conservation of the dome paintings also served as a training course for technicians from the Yemeni antiquities service, teaching them techniques of painting conservation. During the restoration work it was decided that the Amiriya was probably founded as a palace, be it one with a very large and ornate prayer hall. Subsequently used, after a period of abandonment, as madrasa, the restored Amiriya now takes its place in Yemen's cultural patrimony as a palace-museum.

Funding for the restoration stage of the project came from the the Dutch and Yemeni governments, the latter through the General Organization for Antiquities and Museums. The painting conservation work was underwritten by grants from the Dutch government and from the Social Fund for Development (Yemen). A grant from the U.S. Department of State's Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation covered the cost of the training program. Non-Yemeni government funding for the multi-national reconstruction project was administered through AIYS.

For more information contact Dr. Selma al-Radi.