The unique architecture of Sana'a, Yemen has been the focus of international conservation efforts, which have stimulated local interest and contributed to the formation of a local discourse. Because conservation followed so quickly on the heels of modernization, Sana'a provides an opportunity to study the interplay of these two global ideologies in the context of a strong local tradition of building. The "international" theory and practice of conservation developed in a specific cultural and intellectual context, that of modern Europe: it is based on the idea of an historic past that is radically different from the modern present. The artifacts of this past are frozen in time, relics of a past that has now been superseded. But the increasing museification of the built environment is untenable, and also incompatible with current notions of sustainability. Conservation in Sana'a and other cities in Yemen is unusual because the "historic past" is not so far in the past; in many cases, it is still part of the present. This provides not only an interesting case study, but an opportunity to reassess certain assumptions of international practice that are based on the idea of rupture between past and present, for example, the notions of historical value and authenticity.
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