The for­ti­fied his­toric town of Harar is locat­ed in the east­ern part of the coun­try on a plateau with deep gorges sur­round­ed by deserts and savan­nah. The walls sur­round­ing this sacred Mus­lim city were built between the 13th and 16th cen­turies. Harar Jugol, said to be the fourth holi­est city of Islam, num­bers 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 impact of African and Islam­ic tra­di­tions on the devel­op­ment of the town‘s build­ing types and urban lay­out make for its par­tic­u­lar char­ac­ter and unique­ness.