Great Mosque of Sana’a

The Great Mosque of Sana’a stands within the UNESCO-listed Old City of Sana’a, where it is one of the principal monuments associated with the city’s early Islamic history. UNESCO states that Sana’a became a major centre for the propagation of Islam in the seventh and eighth centuries and cites the Great Mosque as direct evidence of that history.

In its statement of Outstanding Universal Value, UNESCO dates the mosque’s foundation to the sixth year of the Hijra and describes it as the first mosque built outside Mecca and Medina. The same UNESCO record also notes archaeological remains within the mosque and reports the tradition that it was constructed while the Prophet Muhammad was still living.

The building seen today should not be treated as an unchanged seventh-century structure. Like many long-lived congregational mosques, it has undergone successive reconstruction, enlargement and restoration, and its surviving architecture reflects multiple historical phases. Its significance therefore rests both on the very early foundation recorded by UNESCO and on its continuing place within Sana’a’s Islamic urban landscape.

It remains a sacred place of Muslim worship as well as a major heritage monument. The surrounding Old City was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1986 and has been on the List of World Heritage in Danger since 2015.