Denomination within circle and dates below.

Depicts Bridge at Shaharah and inscription "Bridge at Shaharah".

The Bridge of Sighs also known as the Bridge of Shaharah was built in the 17th century. The footbridge constructed of limestone is located high up in the al-Ahnum mountains, named for al-Ahnum tribe, the indigenous inhabitants of these mountains. It lies at an elevation of 2600 meters (8500 feet) above sea level and connects two mountain ranges, Jabal al Emir and Jabal al Faish. The bridge is 20 meters (65 feet) long and around 3 meters (9 feet) wide. It is suspended 200 meters (656 feet) above a gorge or canyon.

The architect of the footbridge is Salah al-Yaman who constructed the bridge at the order of a local leader, Al Usta Saleh. No one really knows exactly how the bridge was built especially at that time, but a few legends try to offer some explanations. One story goes that several bridges were built below the major bridge to help with the transfer of supplies up the rugged terrain. Remnants of the minor bridges are still present today. Another legend explains that al-Yaman is credited with building only ten meters of the bridge and the remaining ten meters were believed to have been completed by an unknown person from the adjacent mountain. It is widely known however that the bridge took over three years to construct and cost around 100,000 French Riyals, an enormous amount of money at the time.

The bridge served as the only entry point to the town of Shaharah and is said to have been built to fight off Turkish invaders. The village was previously invaded by Ottoman Turks in the 1500s. One folktale says that the reason for the bridge is that it can be eliminated in just a few minutes in case of an imminent attack by invaders. It is no wonder then that Shaharah was surrounded by a fortified wall and included seven doors as entrances to the town. The village’s remote location left it inaccessible for centuries. Its isolation was only broken with the aid of Yemen’s air force during the country’s civil war in the 1960’s.

The Bridge of Sighs in the heart of Yemen is one of the country’s beloved treasures and arguable the most incredible landscape in the entire region.