Zabid‘s domes­tic and mil­i­tary archi­tec­ture and its urban plan make it an out­stand­ing archae­o­log­i­cal and his­tor­i­cal site. Besides being the cap­i­tal of Yemen from the 13th to the 15th cen­tu­ry, the city played an impor­tant role in the Arab and Mus­lim world for many cen­turies because of its Islam­ic uni­ver­si­ty.