Great Mosque of Djenne

The Great Mosque of Djenne is located in the city of Djenne, Mali, on the bank of the Bani River and is considered to be one of the most significant landmarks in Africa.

Тhe building was built entirely of mud bricks which makes it one of the amazing achievements of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style. It’s also one of the largest mud brick buildings in the world and since 1988 has been listed in the World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

There is no precise information on when the first mosque has been established. It is presumed to be as early as 1200 and as late as 1330. Probably the first time when the existence of the mosque was mentioned, was in 1828. In the same year the French explorer Rene Caillie described the building as a very large abandoned construction, surrounded by two massive towers and a place for nesting swallows.

Several years before Caillie’s appearance in 1834, during the Tukulor War, the conquerоr Amadou Lobbo ordered the current mosque to be destroyed. In 1896 the previous mosque was re-built but soon afterwards it was demolished as well.

The original Great Mosque was built somewhere around 1907-1909. The whole process of the building was under the direction of the head of Djenne’s mason guild, Ismaila Traore.

During the middle ages the mosque hosted one of the most important Islamic learning centres in Africa. It was visited by thousands of students who came to study the Quran.

The Great Mosque of Djenne is situated on a platform standing 3 metres in height and consisting of 6 sets of stairs which provide the access to the mosque.

Half of the mosque is covered by a roof and the other an outdoor prayer garden. The roof is supported by ninety wooden pillars which are situated in the inner prayer hall. The prayer garden is bounded by north, west and south by walls.

The walls of the Great Mosque are made of mud bricks, called ferey, all covered with plaster made of clay which imparts the smooth sculptured appearance of the building.

The wall that faces east towards Mecca is called prayer wall or Qibla. The Qibla has a centerpiece of the three broad square minarets, each of which has a winding staircase up to the roof and graduates with a conical dome holding an ostrich egg on top.

Behind the Qibla wall is the prayer hall that is 26 by 50 metres and occupies the eastern half of the mosque.

During the Djenne annual festival all people in the city take a participation in maintaining the mosque. Besides the fun part, including music and food, the main purpose is to repair the damages (mainly environmental) that have been inflicted on the mosque through the past year.

Although there are lot’s of mosques which are even older than the Great Mosque, it still remains the most significant symbol of the city of Djenne and the country of Mali as well.

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