Sudano-Sahelian architecture
This style is characterized by the use of mudbricks and adobe plaster, with large wooden-log support beams that jut out from the wall face for large buildings such as mosques or palaces. These beams also act as scaffolding for reworking, which is done at regular intervals, and involves the local community.
Historical background
Large
Starting in the 9th century AD, Muslim merchants came to play a vital role in the western
A variety of possible influences on this architecture have been suggested. North African and Andalusi architecture to the north may have been one of these,
During the French colonial occupation of the Sahel, French engineers and architects had a role in popularizing a "Neo-Sudanese" style based on local traditional architecture but emphasizing symmetry and monumentality.[19][20][1] The Great Mosque of Djenné, which was previously established in the 14th century but demolished in the early 19th century,[20] was rebuilt in 1906–1907 under the direction of Ismaila Traoré and with guidance from French engineers.[1][19] Now the largest earthen (mud) building in sub-Saharan Africa, it served as a model for the new style and for other mosques in the region, including the Grand Mosque of Mopti built by the French administration in 1935.[1][19] Other 20th-century and more recent mosques in West Africa have tended to replicate a more generic style similar to that of modern Egypt.[20]
General
While the architecture of this region shares a certain style, a wide variety of materials and local styles are evident across this wide geographic range.[8][23] In the more arid western Sahara and northern Sahel regions, stone predominates as a building material and is often associated with Berber cultures. In the southern Sahel and savannah regions mudbrick and rammed earth are the main material and is now associated with the most monumental examples of West African Islamic architecture. In some places, like Timbuktu and Oualata, both building materials are used together, with stone constructions either covered or bound with a mud plaster.[24]
In the
Mud architecture building techniques
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2023) |
The traditional earth building construction technology has a particular name called “banco” in West Africa, meaning a wet-mud process similar with the concept of coil pottery. When banco technology continues to be the criterion for dwellings in the savannah area, an alternative method is to use earthen brick consequently with wet mud. The brick is cast into rectangular shape and dried in the sun.[27]
One symbol of the Sudanese architecture is the man-made, conical earthen pillars. Being combined with the building itself uniquely, they often project horizontally to the outside like engaged pillars. Being so omnipresent in the vernacular buildings, they can be found singularly or clustered at multiple entrances. As a hallmark of the Sudano Sahelian architecture, they mark the indication of continuity and productivity.
Variations
This section needs additional citations for verification. (January 2023) |
Substyles
The Sudano-Sahelian architectural style itself can be broken down into four smaller sub-styles that are typical of different ethnic groups in the region.
- Malian – of the various Manden groups of southern and central Mali. Characterized by the Great Mosque of Djenné and the Kani-Kombole Mosque of Mali.
- Djingareyber and the Zarmakoy Palace in Dosso
- Fortress style mosque of northern Niger.
- Hausa[30] – The characteristic Hausa architectural style predominant in North and Northwestern Nigeria, Niger, Eastern Burkina Faso, Northern Benin, and Hausa-predominant zango districts and neighbourhoods throughout West Africa. Characterised by its attention of stucco detail in abstract design and extensive use of parapets. One to two storey buildings. Examples in the architecture of the Yamma Mosque and old town of Zinder, The Hausa quarter of Agadez Niger, the Gidan Rumfa of Kano, and various Hausa districts across West Africa.
- Volta basin – of the Cote d'Ivoire. Often the most conservative of the various substyles. Typically features a single courtyard, characterized by high white and black painted walls, inward curved turrets supporting an exterior wall, and a larger turret nearer the center. Characterized by the Larabanga mosque of Ghana and the Bobo-Dioulasso Grand Mosque.
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Agadez Grand Mosque, Niger (Fortress style)
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An ancestral multi-storey townhouse, Agadez, Niger (Hausa/Tubali)
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Larabanga Mosque, Ghana (Gur-Voltaic).
Difference between Savannah and Sahelian styles
The earthen architecture in the Sahel zone region is noticeably different from the building style in the neighboring
They lend a characteristic appearance to the close-built villages and cities. Large buildings such as mosques, representative residential and youth houses stand out in the distance. They are landmarks in a flat landscape that point to a complex society of farmers, craftsmen and merchants with a religious and political upper class.
With the expansion of Sahelian kingdoms south to the rural areas in the savannas (inhabited by culturally or ethnically similar groups to those in the Sahel), the Sudano-Sahelian style was reserved for mosques, palaces, the houses of nobility or townsfolk (as is evident in the Gur-Voltaic style), whereas among commonfolk, there was a mix between either typically distinct Sudano-Sahelian styles for wealthier families, and older African roundhut styles for rural villages and family compounds.
Côte d’Ivoire | |
---|---|
Criteria | Cultural: (ii)(iv) |
Reference | 1648 |
Inscription | 2021 (44th Session) |
Area | 0.13 ha |
Buffer zone | 2.33 ha |
Conservation
Several outstanding examples of religious and secular Sudano-Sahelian architecture have been awarded
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d Bloom & Blair 2009, Mali, Republic of
- .
- .
- ^ Arazi, Noemie. "Tracing History in Dia, in the Inland Niger Delta of Mali -Archaeology, Oral Traditions and Written Sources" (PDF). University College London. Institute of Archaeology.
- ^ Brass, Mike (1998), The Antiquity of Man: East & West African complex societies
- ^ Bourgeois 1987
- ^ "When the sultan became a Muslim. he had his palace pulled down and the site turned into a mosque dedicated to God Most High. This is the present congregational mosque. He built another palace for himself and his household near the mosque on the east side." Hunwick 1999, p. 18
- ^ a b c Bloom & Blair 2009, Africa
- ^ Bloom & Blair 2009, Africa
- ^ a b Pradines 2022, pp. 51–52.
- ^ Historical Society of Ghana. Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, The Society, 1957, p. 81
- ^ Davidson, Basil. The Lost Cities of Africa. Boston: Little Brown, 1959, p. 86
- ^ Bloom & Blair 2009, Timbuktu
- ^ a b Petersen 1996, p. 306.
- ^ a b c d e Bloom & Blair 2009, Africa
- ^ Pradines 2022, p. 63.
- ^ Bloom & Blair 2009, Timbuktu
- ^ Petersen 1996, p. 307.
- ^ a b c d e f Petersen 1996, p. 308.
- ^ a b c Bloom & Blair 2009, Africa
- ^ Pradines 2022, pp. 37, 53–55.
- ^ Bloom & Blair 2009, Mali, Republic of
- ^ Petersen 1996, pp. 306–308.
- ^ Petersen 1996, pp. 306–307.
- ^ Pradines 2022, p. 84.
- ^ "Archnet > Site > Friday Mosque at Zaria". www.archnet.org. Retrieved 2023-01-04.
- ^ "Construction Technology and Architecture | Encyclopedia.com". www.encyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
- ^ Team, Editorial (2021-03-30). "Vernacular Architecture: Tradition and Beauty in Regional Styles". RMJM. Retrieved 2023-01-15.
- ISSN 0008-0055.
- S2CID 202901961.
- ^ "Old Towns of Djenné". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
- ^ "Historic Centre of Agadez". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
- ^ a b "Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d'Ivoire". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Retrieved 5 September 2021.
Sources
- Bourgeois, Jean-Louis (1987), "The history of the great mosques of Djenné", African Arts, 20 (3), UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center: 54–92, JSTOR 3336477
- Bloom, Jonathan M.; Blair, Sheila (2009). The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art & Architecture. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-530991-1. Retrieved 2013-03-15.
- Petersen, Andrew (1996). Dictionary of Islamic Architecture. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-20387-3.
- Pradines, Stéphane (2022). Historic Mosques in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Timbuktu to Zanzibar. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-47261-7.
Further reading
- Aradeon, Suzan B. (1989), "Al-Sahili: the historian's myth of architectural technology transfer from North Africa", Journal des Africanistes, 59: 99–131, .
- Bourgeois, Jean-Louis; Pelos, Carollee (photographer); Davidson, Basil (historical essay) (1989), Spectacular vernacular : the adobe tradition, New York: Aperture Foundation, ISBN 0-89381-391-5. Second edition published in 1996.
- Prussin, Labelle (1986), Hatumere: Islamic design in West Africa, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-03004-4.
- Schutyser, S. (photographer); Dethier, J.; Gruner, D. (2003), Banco, Adobe Mosques of the Inner Niger Delta, Milan: 5 Continents Editions, ISBN 88-7439-051-3.