Dar Alhajar

Dar Alhajar

The Dar al-Hajar, also known as the Stone Palace or the Stone House, is a remarkable building perched on top of a large cliff in the Wadi Dhar valley near Sana’a. As the summer residence of the Imam of the Zayds, Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din, Dar al-Hajar is widely recognized as one of the finest examples of Yemeni traditional architecture. The building appears to grow out of the rock itself, seemingly centuries old, yet it was built in more recent times, around the 1930s. There is no reliable source as to whether it was recently built or just attached to a former building that already existed here, but the Stone Palace contains everything a leader needs. It offers a range of facilities such as appointment rooms, separate rooms for cooling water in traditional clay pots, guest rooms, Turkish baths, fountains and so much more. Directly at the entrance of the residence is a large garden with a very old tree, which can be dated back to about 7 centuries. Today owned by the government, Dar al-Hajar acts as an enticing museum that draws people from all over the world, who want to get as close as possible to Yemen's traditional architecture, while learning a little more about the recent history of Yemen's leaders, from a time when the country had no king or president, but was led by an Islamic spiritual leader.