| Summary: | One century after its reconstruction, the southern gate of Sana’a, Bāb al‑Yaman, has become not only the symbol of an ancient urban identity but also the emblem of Yemen’s political and cultural vitality. This article analyses the persistence and the symbolization of such an archetypal urban form through three levels of interpretations: first, the city dwellers’ perceptions, which replace the gate in spatial practices; then the iconographic representations of Bāb al‑Yaman, which are in line with the process of promotion of Yemen’s patrimonial and cultural treasures; and last but not least, the discourse analysis of some institutional actors, who have turned the gate into an object of claim.
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