Seyoun (Yemen) (AFP)

Bright white, the Seyoun Palace towers over this city in southeast Yemen with its imposing structure, but is in danger of collapsing after years of neglect and torrential rains that have hit the warring country.

Massive on the outside with its four corner towers and sober on the inside, the clay palace illustrates Yemen's descent into hell since the launch of the Houthi rebellion in 2014.

"If it is not restored quickly, it risks collapsing", fears Abdallah Barmada, an engineer specializing in the restoration of historical monuments, launching an appeal for international aid to save the palace.

"The base of the structure, the walls, the roofs are damaged and they must be repaired and maintained regularly," he adds to AFP.

Due to the conflict, the authorities have struggled to raise funds to maintain Yemeni cultural heritage, such as this palace in the second city of Hadramout province.

The war between the government, backed since 2015 by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, and Iranian-backed rebels has devastated the country, killing tens of thousands and causing the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations.

- Floods -

Heavy rains have been added to the war in recent months, triggering floods killing dozens of people in the country.

The floods damaged sites classified as World Heritage by Unesco, particularly in the city of Chibam, further west, nicknamed the "Manhattan of the desert" because of its tall adobe towers.

In the country's third-largest city, Taëz, the recently restored regional museum suffered from flooding and part of this former Ottoman palace collapsed last month.

Originally a 34-meter high fort, the Seyoun Palace, which in 1920 became the seat of the Kathiri Sultanate abolished in 1967, has not been spared.

With its rows of windows facing a busy street, the palace appears to be in good condition, but the interior shows obvious signs of damage with cracks in the walls and a partially collapsed roof.

Hussein al-Aidarous, head of antiquities and museums in Hadramout province, assures us that the monument is one of the few of this type still standing.

It "is considered to be one of the most important clay brick buildings in Yemen and perhaps even in the Arabian Peninsula," he told AFP.

The facade of the seven-story building has retained its original splendor, and its towering lines adorn the 1,000 riyal note, Yemen's largest denomination.

- Hidden treasures -

Seyoun Palace opened to the public in 1984 after the development of a museum, closed at the start of the war and partially reopened in 2019.

According to the director of the museum, Saïd Baychout, the establishment presents objects from excavations in the province, including tombstones that date back to the Stone Age.

There are also statues from the Bronze Age, pottery and manuscripts that predate Islam.

But the most valuable collections have been hidden to prevent one of the belligerents or one of the armed groups from seizing them, says Baychout.

"The museum was closed at the start of the conflict, when Al-Qaeda entered Hadramout, and the rooms were hidden for fear of looting and damage," he told AFP.

"So far, important and rare coins are hidden in secret places."

© 2020 AFP