Colourful Harar

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HARAR, THE LIVING MUSEUM

Harar, a fascinating city of UNESCO’s World Heritage is an Islamic walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is Islam’s 4th holiest city (after Mecca, Medina, and Jerusalem) that you really feel that you’ve arrived in the Horn of Africa. This city has been the center of trade between Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, from India, the ¬Middle East for centuries, and today Harar is a rainbow of people, religions, and tongues. The walls surrounding this sacred Muslim city were built between the 13th and 16th centuries. In Harar, there are 82 mosques, three of which date from the 10th century, and 102 shrines, but the townhouses with their exceptional interior design constitute the most spectacular part of Harar’s cultural heritage.

The medieval walled city has plenty of old-world charm, with hundreds of narrow streets crowded together like a maze. Traditional Harari dwellings, 16th-century gates, watchtowers, and beautifully designed mosques and shrines are all remarkable features. There are several local museums, admiring coins and artifacts that illustrate how the arts and mercantile trade thrived in the town. The streets of Harar’s old town, on the other hand, are a living museum of a distinct ethnic identity, language, and culture. A good way to interact with the locals is to embark on a walk along the town’s market streets, each defined by the goods sold there. The Gidir Market or Big Market – at which different ethnic groups gather to sell firewood, vegetables, and meat is a case in point.

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