Project Gallery | Sacral Architecture Africa

The Minaret at the Grand Mosque, Agadez. Material: clay and wood. Originally built in the 16th century and rebuilt in the 19th century. In the 11th century, the first occupants to settle in Agadez were the Haoussas who took up Islamic faith. The Sultanate of Aïr was established in Agadez from the 15th and 16th centuries. This boosted alliances of the Tuareg tribes and led to development of trans-Saharan economic and cultural exchanges. Using local materials, a refined art of construction using mudbrick was developed.

Askia tomb at Grand Mosque of Gao, Mali Songhay Empire. Material: mud brick. The Tomb of Askia was built by Askia Mohamed, the Emperor of Songhai, in 1495 in Gao. It attests to the power and wealth of the empire that thrived in the 15th and 16th centuries through its control of the trans-Saharan trade in gold and salt.

Shitta Bey Mosque, Lagos, Nigeria, Afro-Brazilian Architecture. Material: brick, tiles. Construction:1891-1894. In 1891,The Shitta mosque was designed by Joao Baptista da Costa, a Brazilian returnee to Lagos with the assistance of Sanusi Aka, indigenous builder. The construction was financed by Mohammed Shitta Bey, who was born into a family of liberated slaves. His family moved from Waterloo to Fourah Bay in Sierra Leone around 1831 to Badagry, Nigeria. Shitta Bey became prosperous trader and a philanthropist.

Ghana, Larabanga Mosque. Materials: mud and wood. Founded in 1421. Style: Sudano-Sahelian. Larabanga is the oldest Ghana’s mosques, a revered religious site. Influenced by western Sudanese architecture, It has been restored several times since it was founded in 1421. The World Monuments Fund has been involved in its restoration, and lists it as one of the 100 most endangered sites.

Al-maqa Temple, or Great Temple of the Moon, Yeha, Tigray, Ethiopia. Material: white limestone. Regarded as the oldest standing structure in Ethiopia, the Temple of the Moon is located in the northern Tigray region. It was dedicated to the great moon god Almougah where sacrifices were made. It was built during the Aksumite kingdom of D’mt.

We could say that the vernacular architecture is linked to the notion of "identity" that we seek, that is, architecture must be a result of the place, the people, and the history.

-Grupo BANGA

Temple of Minerva, Temple of Jupiter, Temple of Juno Sbeitla (Sufetula), Tunisia. Material: stone. Sufetula, an ancient Roman city in North Africa is speckled with temples, monumental arches and bath complexes that attest to ancient Roman civilisation in that region. The Temple of Jupiter, in the centre, is flanked by temples dedicated to Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, on the left, and to Juno, the divine protector of the state, on the right.

Kasubi tombs, Kampala, Uganda. Burial enclaves of kings and royal family. Materials: wood and straw. The Tombs of Kabakas (Buganda Kings) at Kasubi sit on a hillside within Kampala region. Built in 1882 and converted into the royal burial ground in 1884. The structures were largely damaged in a fire in 2010.

Great Zimbabwe ruins (Lusvingo), The Hill Complex Zimbabwe. Served as the capital of the Shona Kingdom. Material: Stone. Construction: 11th century AD.

Masjid al-Qiblatayn, Zeila, Somalia. Material: stone and brick. Known as the mosque of two Quiblahs, the construction of this Mosque is parallel to the History of Islam in Somalia. Located In Zeila, the mosque Masjid al-Qiblatayn is regarded as the site where early companions of the Prophet and indigenous Somalis established a mosque shortly after the first migration to Abyssinia.

The Gobarau Minaret. Katsina, Nigeria. Materials: clay and wood (palm branches). The minaret, a 50 ft structure is part of a mosque which was built in Katsina in the 15th century during the reign of the first muslim king of Katsina, Muhammadu Korau (1445–1495 AD). Some sources suggest that the mosque was built between the 16th and 18th centuries, with a major reconstruction in the early 20th century. The mosque's origin is linked to Islamic scholars Sheikh Muhammad Abdulkarim Almaghili and Muhammadu Korau Gobarau Mosque was transformed into a centre of learning, attracting scholars and students from far and wide across the Western and Central Sudan and Magrib.

Bet Danaghel, Lalibela, Ethiopia. Second to Axum, Lalibela is one of Ethiopia's holiest cities at the heart of holy pilgrimages and made up of mostly Ethiopian Orthodox Christian churches. Ethiopia was one of the earliest nations to adopt Christianity in the first half of the 4th century, and its historical roots date to the time of the Apostles. The churches in Lalibela date from the 7th to 13th centuries, and correspond to the reign of the Zagwe king Gebre Mesqel Lalibela.

“Buildings for me represent opportunities of agency, transformation, and storytelling. They are not just artifacts. There is this big tradition of buildings-as-artifacts - constructed artifacts - but for me, they are these incredible sites of negotiation.”

- Sir David Adjaye

Church of Debre Berhan Selassie, Gondar, Ethiopia. Originally built in 1693, rebuilt in the late 18th century. Material: stone, wood, metal sheets. Debre Berhan Selassie Church and monastery are both located in northern Ethiopia in the town of Gondar. It is regarded as one of Ethiopia`s most beautiful churches with its colourful religious art, magnificent stone walls, arched doors and double-layered thatched roof.

Grand Mosque. Bani, Burkina Faso. Material: adobe. The Grand Mosque of Bani is considered one of the most important religious sites of Burkina Faso. Located in a small desert village, the idea for the mosque was conceived by Mohamed el Hajj, after he returned from a pilgrimage. The villagers gathered to build the Sudano-Sahelian style mosque in the 1880s

A Mosque at the funerary complex of Sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay, Cairo, Egypt. Material: stone, wood, ivory, mother of pearl. Completed in 1474, this architectural complex was built by Sultan al-Ashraf Qaytbay. Sultan Qaytbay was a prolific builder of various institutions in Egypt during his reign. The mosque is considered as one of the most beautiful monuments of late Egyptian Mamluk architecture.

Old Church of Saint Mary of Zion, Aksum, Tigray, Ethiopia. An Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Built: 4th century AD, rebuilt a number of times since then. Saint Mary of Zion was the traditional place where Ethiopean Emperors came to be crowned. If an Emperor was not crowned at Axum, or did not have his coronation ratified by a special service at this church, he could not be referred to as an "Atse", an Amharic word for Emperor.

Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. Built around 1880. Material: mudbrick and wood. Located in Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city of Burkina Faso. This mosque was completed circa 1893, and is yet another outstanding example of Sudano-Sahelian style mud architecture, with conical towers and projecting wooden struts.

The distribution of cultural groups and political experiences across different parts of the continent from ancient times through the present also underscores the importance of understanding the geography of the continent when studying its architectural heritage.

The "triple Heritage" Architectural Concept - African, Continent, Christian, and Indigenous -

JRank Articles

The Church of Santa María de África, Ceuta. Founded in 1421, rebuilt in 1676. Style: Baroque. The story of this church is also the story of conquests and geopolitics. The small Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are located on the Northern shores of Morocco`s Mediterannean coast. Together, they form the European Union`s only land borders with Africa.

Basilica of Volubilis. Founded in the 3rd century B.C. The Mauretanian capital became a principal outpost of the Roman Empire. Volubilis is one of Morocco`s preserved Roman ruins situated between the cities of Fez and Meknes. The Lisbon earthquake of the 18th century hit the region and caused the destruction of the structures.

Meroe Pyramids, Sudan. A Nubian burial site. Material: stone. In the heart of the Sahara, lies the ancient land of Kush, an old kingdom of the Meroitic kings. Over 200 pyramids, clustered across three sites, were built as royal tombs for kings and queens who ruled the Nubian Kingdom of Kush on the banks of the Nile. Some of Meroe’s and Napata’s wealthiest nobles were also buried here. Founded: 800 BC-100 AC.

Roça Sundy Chapel São Tomé and Príncipe. A Portuguese chapel. Material: stone, limestone. Built: Circa late 17th Century. To this day, São Tomé and Principé is speckled with colonial Portuguese architecture like this 17th century Chapel in Roça Sundy. In the late 15th century the Portuguese sent out settlers (including many convicts and Jewish children who had been separated from their parents and expelled from Portugal) and brought African slaves to the islands to grow sugar.

Besease Temple, Kumasi, Ghana. An Akan shrine from the Ashanti Kingdom. Material: mud, wood and straw. Construction:19th Century. The Besease shrines are the only surviving examples of traditional Asante architecture. The Asante ruled parts of the area of present-day Gahan in the 18th and 19th centuries through the once powerful Asante empire.

Roman Kiosk at Apedemak temple (Hathor temple?) Naqa, Sudan. A rectangular sandstone structure preserved almost to its roof level, the Roman kiosk is a temple with strong Hellenistic elements. The entrance to the kiosk is Egyptian and is topped by a lintel with a row of sacred cobras but the sides consists of columns with Corinthian capitals and arched windows in the Roman style.

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