Yemen in Italian Press [Archives:2000/22/Culture]

No sooner Abbas Ali Zabarah Chairman of the Yemen Red Crescent Society did His Excellence President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the delegation accompanying him left Italy after their successful trip and the inauguration of the Yemeni Exhibition in Rome than the Italian Media was agog talking and publishing articles about Arabia Felix. With every dawn the Italian Newspapers appeared with fascinating headlines focusing on the history and fabulous heritage of Yemen and the life and beauty of Sana’a.
All the articles were couched in luxuriant headlines supported by beautiful pictures about the classical architectural patterns found in Sana’a, relics of Mareb, and other representative artifacts. Following are some of the glamorous headlines of top stories published in ten leading newspapers:
Charming Yemen wins Rome.
Yemen the desert flower, Queen of Sheba.
Queen of Sheba is Resurrected.
Queen of Sheba, desert and gold.
The West is generated even in Yemen.
Battle with time.
Pre-Islamic Art from Munich to Rome.
The other aspect of Queen of Sheba.
Hello in Arabia Felix.
The legend of Sheba returns and revives dreams.
Presence/Pictures/Films possess Rome.
In Sana’a the old city, towers and castles shoot upwards to heaven, comprising seven to eight floors of bricks and clay. Before 30 years the cinematic director Paolo Pasolini arrived in the city in order to shoot the film Flower of One Thousand Nights and One, collecting anecdotes from Arabia Felix. Then he gave a call to UNESCO saying, I save the human heritage, protect it from demolition and demographic invasion in one of the least developed countries but the most magnanimous on the whole continent.
Sana’a is Venezia out of clay. The article went on to quote what the prominent Italian writer Moravia said about the old project of Sana’a that the old sagacity is still frozen for centuries to come.
The writer further said the alleyways and lanes of Sana’a market are crowding with goods, people and spices. Men with big kilts walk girded with belts and daggers whilst few or none of the women are noted. They are veiled and shrouded with the black color which signifies happiness whilst the white color signifies widowhood and equanimity. In another paragraph of the same article the writer says:
In this desert and in a prosperous era, appeared the great Mareb Dam, the greatest irrigation system of yore.
It has been mentioned in the holy scriptures that when it disappeared the kingdom of Sheba faded and the fertile plains turned into desert. Hope for Yemenis now hinges on the miracle they accomplished in the form of the new dam which was inaugurated in 1986 when it turned the pebbles of the desert into arable land.
The Gazette Newspaper published an article titled ”Charming Yemen wins Rome”, Pre-Islamic Heritage in Rospoli Castle with outstanding modernity. Here are a few excerpts from the article:
”You must have visited Yemen and have had a look at that forlorn country which is built of clay and bricks shooting upwards like sky scrappers. The ”Unity” Newspaper published an article tilted
”The Queen of Sheba appears anew.” Between modernity and defense of the past, there is an exhibition about Yemen reminding us of Arabia Felix. Five Hundred Archaeological pieces from pre-Islamic era are on display in ‘”Yemen, Land of the Queen of Sheba”, the Exhibition that is arriving in Rome on April 6, 2000 after a resounding success in Paris, Vienna and Munich. The Exhibition is organized by CINS an Italian Volunteer Organization working in Yemen, hosted by Rospoli Castle in Rome.
The ”Manifesto” went on to say ”Queen of Gold and Desert” today shall open in Rome an exhibition titled ”Yemen, the land of the Queen of Sheba”. The exhibition contains five hundred pieces of exhibits, a testimony to prolific artistic production in Yemen in the past. Yemen’s authenticity is still unknown to many. After the station of Paris, Vienna and Munich, we celebrate today in Rome the exhibition ”Yemen in the Kingdom of Sheba, titled the stones of Sheba in the castle of Rospoli. In the words of the Evening Gazette, ”Housed in Rospoli Castle in Rome till 30 June, 2000, the Great Queen of Sheba with five hundred artifacts of Yemenite Excavation by an initiative of the Italian CINS and the supervision of the Italian Afro-Asiatic Institute”. The Exhibition is a testimony of thousands of years and repaired artifacts. It is attracting artistic attention to artifacts dating back to the period from 1200 B.C. till 600 B.C. in which kingdoms of Shebaeans flourished. At the same time those of the Himyarite civilizations were responsible for the demolition of the dam, a remarkable feat of engineering marvel which used to irrigate the desert and transform it to vast gardens.
In another article he says:
Rome today hosts for the very first time in its history five hundred archaeological pieces dating back to the pre-Islamic era coming from Yemen. The exhibition has roamed many European Metropolitans one of which was Munich and now it is even more preciously regarded in the Italian station. A section has been dedicated for the Yemeni Architectural Style which is distinguished for its skyscrapers, the city which has been proclaimed by the UNESCO as an International patrimony, subject to elimination due to the unavailability of potentials for reparation, urgently calling for maintenance of that heritage. An Exhibition is held in Rome organized by CINS, an Italian volunteer organization NGO working in Yemen for implementation of projects in collaboration with the ministry of culture, health etc. In the Speed Gazette an article appeared titled Rome’s Exhibitions, the Jewels of Sheba, Hello to the Arabian Ambassador. Exhibited in it are 440 pieces of statuettes and Jewels representing the legends, creeds, traditions and customs of a charming civilization which started 3000 years ago, when the queen of Sheba met Solomon. Now the exhibition comes to Rome after a long voyage and will continue till 30 June 2000. It projects old and distant history of Yemen during which period the power of the Sabaeans emerged and Mareb was famous. Pasolini once liked it and said it was the best location for his film ”Flower of One thousand Nights and One ”.

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