Large mosque of Djenné

The Grande Mosquée of Djenné is the largest building of the raw ground world adobe (one also says: Banco in Africa); she is regarded by many architects as the major realization of the style architectural soudano-sahélien, while reflecting undeniable Islamic influences.

The mosque is located in the city of Djenné, with the Mali, in the alluvial plain of the Bani, affluent of the Niger. A first building was built in this place at the 13th century, but current construction goes back only to 1907. Marking the center of the agglomeration of Djenné, it is also one of the most remarkable symbols of sub-Saharan Africa. In.liaison.with the town of Djenné itself, it is registered since 1988 with the Liste of the world heritage of UNESCO.

History

The Large mosque of Djenné is distinguished from the other mosques of Western Africa in what it was built in a virgin place of any other former religious building: this place was previously occupied by a palate. The other mosques were usually built in the place of conical, out of cob or stone, supposed pyramidal buildings to represent the protective spirits of the ancestors. Experts in Islamic architecture such as Labelle Prussin, think that these conical constructions were integrated in the design of the mosques in all Mali, and consider that the Large mosque of Djenné is the most revealing example.

The site was occupied by mosques since the construction of the first, which was ordered in 1240 by Koi Kunboro, before Djenné does not become one of the main cities of the empires of the Mali then Songhai. The conqueror of nation peule, Amadou Lobbo, which removed Djenné following an holy war, made demolish this mosque. He estimated that the building of origin, which was a transformed palate, was too rich. The only part of this building which was preserved is an enclosure containing the tombs of local leaders. A restitution of the building, with identical, was finished in 1896, but was then demolished again to make place with the current building.

The construction of this one started in 1906, and was probably completed in 1907 or 1909. This construction was supervised and directed by the chief of the corporation of the masons of Djenné, Ismaila Traoré. At that time, Djenné raised of the territory of the French Western Africa and the French authority probably helped administratively and economically the construction of the mosque as well as close madrassa.

Many mosques of Mali received electrical installations and of water conveyance. In certain cases, the external walls even received a cover of tiles denaturing their traditional appearance and sometimes endangering their structural integrity. Although the Large Mosque was equipped with a system of loudspeakers, the inhabitants of Djenné privileged the conservation of the historical integrity of the monument compared to a hazardous modernization. The efforts made in this direction received an approval of holding of the authenticity and this tendency increased since the Années 1990.

The building was closed with the not-Moslems after a fashion photographer took, on the roof and inside, of the photographs which shocked or were regarded as exceeding the agreement made with the local authorities.

The building

The mosque with the form of a square of 75 side meters. Its height is of 20 meters. The roof is supported by 90 pillars and has 104 air vents. It can contain 1000 people. The wall of prayer or quibla is turned towards the east in the direction of Mecque; it overhangs the place of the market of Djenné. This wall is dominated by three large minarets of rectangular form which make covered, just as the eighteen buttresses. Each minaret contains a spiral staircase leading to the summit platform. The top of each turn ends in a surmounted cone of an egg of ostrich.

The walls measure from 40 to 60 cm thickness; this one depends their height, highest are thickest, their base must indeed be proportioned with their weight. They consist of bricks of ground believed, called ferey jointed using mortar and coated with a coat of plaster, both of the same composition. This rough coat gives to the building its forms gently round. Beams of branches of palm trees are inserted in the depth of the walls in order to absorb the cracks which come from the variable constraints due to the changes of temperature and moisture. They give to the building a really characteristic roughcast aspect. The walls in bank value isolate, during the day, the interior of the building of more strong heats ensuring a thermal regularization with the fresher nights. Gutters in ground pipes overflow of the edge of the roof and evacuate rainwater by rejecting them far from the walls.

Half of the mosque is covered of a roof, other half is a court of prayer to the free air. The roof is supported by the 90 wood pillars, distributed on all surface. The air vents in the roof are covered with removable ceramics domes preventing the rain from penetrating, and which can be withdrawn to allow ventilation when the interior air is too hot. One second room of prayer is arranged in an enclosure closed behind the covered part: it is delimited by external walls towards north, the south and the west, and in the east by the part covered and surrounded by blind arcades. The walls of the blind arcade between the covered room and the court are bored arched openings some 15 height m: they allow the sight or the circulation of the people.

The risks of damage of water and, particularly, of floods were a major concern of Traoré when it directed construction. The annual rising of the Outlaw regularly transforms Djenné into island and the high waters can flood certain sectors of the city. The large mosque was thus established on an elevated platform of a surface of 5 625 m ² which, until now, was always enough to hold it out of reach water.

Cultural aspects

All the community of the inhabitants of Djenné takes an active share in the maintenance of the mosque, within the framework of annual festivities, with music and restoration traditional. The regular maintenance of the mosque is made essential by the characteristics of the fragile material used, which undergoes a strong erosion by the combined action of the rain, the insolation and the changes of temperature (generators of cracks). During the days which precede the festivities, one prepares adequate quantities of coating, which requires several day's works. The pasty coating must be stirred up periodically, which generally returns to young children who play inside - what ensures agitation necessary. The young men go up on the walls of the mosque while helping themselves of the permanent scaffolding consisted the beams of palms planted in the walls and they proceed to the complete rough-casting of the mosque using the coating. This one is brought in place and place by other men. A race takes place in any beginning of the ceremonial, to see which will arrive the first with its loading of coating at the mosque. The women and the young girls carry the water necessary to the manufacture of the coating or used by the men who are perched on the mosque. All the process is directed by eminent members of the corporation of the masons. The old ones, which has themselves in the past often taken part in annual rough-casting, sat in the places of honor to look at being held the action.

The original mosque sheltered one of the most important centers of Islamic teaching of Africa during all Middle Ages. Thousands of students passed by the madrasses of Djenné to study Coran there. The old districts of the city, including the mosque, were registered with the world Repertory of UNESCO in 1988, taking into account their exceptional cultural significance.

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