The Architecture of Islam in West Africa

Author(s): Labelle Prussin

Source: African Arts, Vol. 1, No. 2, (Winter, 1968), pp. 32-74
Published by: UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies Center
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3334324
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 Labelle Prussin The mosque expresses
the crystallization in
three dimensions of the
unique synthesisbetween
Islamicculturalfeatures
and the culturesof
indigenousWest African
societies.

THE OF
ARCHITECTURE
ISLAM
IN WEST AFRICA
(4) Mosque at Djenne: Interior

L'architecture a 4et l'art le plus neglig6 de 'Afrique: elle a ete

O f all the arts of sub-Saharan
Africa, architecture has remained an
etudiee par les anthropologueset les archeologuesqui ne la considerent
orphan child. Sculpture, music, the
pas sous son aspect artistique. dance, have come into their own, but
A cette disaffection s'ajoute la supposition superficielle que l'usage architecture has remained, with rare
de l'argile, parce qu'elle est une matiere qui manque de permanence,
rend la constructiontrop eph-mere pour justifierdes recherchesserieuses. exception, an unrecognized art, rel-
Les mosquees de 'Afrique occidentale, en fait, d6ploient une variete egated to the realm of anthropology
or archeology; even in these disci-
de styles et de formes dont la parfaite harmonie entre la beaute struc-
turelle et la conception fonctionelle donne naissance A une forme d'art plines, references are in the nature of
digne d'un grand interet. fleeting glimpses, tangential to the
main focus of their concern. This lack
Le developpement de leurs styles peut etre suivi au travers de la of attention to African architecture
chronologie (par exemple, la penetration islamique) ou des conditions cannot be surprising when one con-
geographiques (par exemple, le climat). II aboutit a une monumen- siders the reasons which account for
talite qui est bien un caractereproprea l'architecture. such a lacuna in the African Arts.
Labelle Prussin analyse la mosquee soudanaise qu'elle divise en cinq
varietes: Timbouctou, Djenne, Bobo Dioulasso, Kong, et Kawara. Du First, perhaps,is the almost complete
absence of field studies with an archi-
point de vue socio-politico-g6ographique,les caracteres architecturaux tectural orientation.Ethnographicfield-
de chaque type refletent les caracteresdistinctifs de la r6gion. En depit work in Africa has been carried out
des variations qui modifient l'aspect de la mosquee du nord au sud, on a micro-level, anthropologically
on peut cependant aisement identifier son style. La mosquee est une oriented and geographically localized.
expressionconcrete du symbolisme,le reflet d'une culture a un moment A researcher may see and record the
particulier dans le temps-bref, tout ce qui contribue a definir les building activity of a particularethnic
canons de 'architecture.
grouping in the area of his concentra-
tion, but either current disfavor to-
The presence of Islam is immediately demonstratedby the mosques, wards studies in material culture or
the researcher'sown lack of architec-
simple or elaborate, set against the skylines of many West African tural perceptiveness will prevent him
towns. Miss Prussin, an architect who has lived in Africa for several
from noting the subtleties which an-
years, here analyzes the stylistic features characterizingthese buildings. nounce the presence of an architectural
She argues for their importance both as an art form and as evidence
of the synthesis which results when man seeks to achieve monumentality motif. Ethnographic provincialism,the
as a testimony of his faith. result of in-depth study, has deprived
him of a spatial perspective. Not since
Numberswithin parenthesesrefer to illustrations. the aerial framework of Frobenius'
32
 (2) Tomb of Askia Muhamed at Gao

.(10) ,at Kawara. --. -

Mosqu?...e .
(10) Mosque at Kawara

(1) Sankore mosque at Timbucktoo

(3) Mosque at Djenne

,c -~ -' . L -? ~ ~ *i-.-.

33
 (7) Mosqueat Bobo Dioulasso
Monumentality is
achieved through a sense
of verticality.
(5) Mosqueat Mopti
I.-
34
Kulturkreise, albeit theoretically un-
fashionable today, has consideration
been given to the geographic or sty-
listic extensiveness of architectural
forms in sub-SaharanAfrica.
Secondly, the building technology
of sub-SaharanAfrica is based on ma-
terials of short durability: the life-span
of building structuresis comparatively
short. Mud is not considered a respect-
able architectural medium, since his-
torically, in the architecturalperspec-
tive, monumentalityis associated with
permanence. Stone construction is al-
most non-existent today, and what re-
I
mains of stone monuments from past
centuries has scarcely been uncovered
by the limited resources devoted to
Africanarcheology.
Third, and perhaps most important
is the attitude, shared by architect and
layman alike, that building in sub-
Saharan Africa is not architecture at
all, but at most, building technology:
shelter is seen only in terms of the
techniques which its builder com-
mands, and not in terms of its aesthetic
value. The most generous critic will
award it the term Urarchitektur,the
less generous critic, the term primitive
shelter. Such an attitude is reminiscent
of early approaches to African sculp-
ture. Imbued with an aesthetic sense
socially conditioned by Western philos-
ophy, the critic viewed the examples
of African sculpture which had found
their way to the ethnographic mu-
seums of Europe, as immature at-
tempts to represent nature. Failing to
realize that the bases of reference in
Africa differed greatly from those of
Europe, the critic failed to place these
examples in their proper perspective.
As a consequence, a penetrating anal-
ysis and study of African aesthetics
was, until recently, impossible. Un-
fortunately, such Victorian attitudes
still prevail with regard to African
architecture.
The savannah belt of West Africa,
an area paralleling the equator, travels
east to west and extends from the
ancient emporia strung out along the
bend of the Niger River to the pe-
riphery of the rainforest. Within this
belt, the Western Sudan and more
specifically the boucle du Niger and
the Voltaic Basin are of particular
concern to us here. This area is asso-
ciated with three important historical
sequences: the diaspora of the Mande-
speaking people, the northwestern
trade routes linking the Niger emporia
to Kumasi and the Guinea Coast, and
the activities related to the jihad of
Samori in the late nineteenth century.
It is here that a particular type of
mosque abounds which Frobenius,
Marty, Trimingham, and others have
termed Sudanese, so called simply be-
cause it was found in the former
French Sudan. From an historicalpoint
of view, this area is to be distinguished Statue, 4th-5th Century BC, now exhibited at Addis Ababa
from its eastern counterpart where
Hausa state formation, the Fulani
jihads, and the consequences of the
northeasterntrans-Saharantrade routes
gave rise to a different kind of archi-
tecturalexpression.
In any savannah environment, and
THlIOP
IA
Ethiopia is a fascinating combination of prehistoric and modern
the West African savannah is no ex- Africa. Fly there on Ethiopian Airlines' beautifully equipped
ception, mud is used almost exclusively Boeing Fan Jets from Madrid, Frankfurt, Rome, Athens, Beirut
as an indigenous building material by or New Delhi. See the ancient rock-carved churches of Lalibela,
sedentary peoples. But mud can be the awesome majesty of the Blue Nile's Tisisat Falls, Axum,
used in many ways, and indigenous Gondar, and Bahar Dar, on Ethiopian Airlines' Historic Tour
building, diverse in both its forms and from Addis Ababa or Asmara.
in the functions it serves, evidences a
wide range of types. The circular Exciting East and West Africa are only a short flight
roundhouse clusters, capped by their from Europe on Ethiopian Airlines.
thatched roof bonnets and dispersed FRANKFURT
over the arid landscape, are at one end MADRID A
_ ROME
-ATHENS - BEIRUT
of the range. At the other end are the KHARTOM CAIRO KARACHI-*DELHI
ASMARA '-e ADEN
flat-roofed, rectangular houses replete ACCRA- LAGOS .. ADDISABABA-- DJIBOUTI
with pierced parapet walls, crowded ENTEBBE NAIROBI
DARES SALAAM
into tightly nucleated villages which
appear in the distance as small, forti-
fied medieval towns. Intermingledwith
this range of sedentary buildings are
the various nomadic transient shelters
# EThHIPIAN
of thatch, woven mats, or skins, whose Offices in North America:
Continuedon p. 70 NEW YORK: 51 E. 42nd St. ?HOLLYWOOD: 1800 N. Argyle St.
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Continuedfromp. 35
occupants live in symbiotic relation-
ship with their sedentarymud-building
neighbors.
Whether this broad range of build-
ing types, each with its attendenttech-
nology, constitutesarchitecture,is still
open to question. However, the Su-
danese mosque, appearing as a singu-
seems to evidence many of the cur-
rently prescribed canons of architec-
ture. It pervades the area, dominating
a wealth of ethnic building diversity.
Stylizedand symbolic,it is immediately
identifiablevisually.While some degree
of modificationoccurs in the form as
it disperses across the savannah belt,
the basic form remains, recognizable
and distinctive.
When discussing almost any topic
relatingto the WesternSudan,one fact
Islam-a force which pervades all as-
pects of the communityin which it is
found. It is Islam as a force that gave
rise to the mosques,palaces, and tombs
be referred to as the Architectureof
Islam has been studied in great detail
by such authorities as Creswell, Ter-
rasse, and others; however, their ex-
tensive fieldwork was concerned with
the Near East, North Africa, and
southern Spain, not with sub-Saharan
Africa.A scholarinterestedin the archi-
tecture of Islam in this part of the
world must comb through available
material contained in Arabic sources,
in accounts by eighteenth and nine-
teenth century explorersand travelers,
in archeologicalreports, and in micro-
ethnographicdescriptions.Further, in
order to understandthe Islamic archi-
tecture of the Western Sudan, it is
necessary to become familiar with the
of Islamic penetration into
history
West Africa, i.e., the processesof syn-
thesis which took place between the
evangelistsof Islam and the indigenous
cultures they encountered, as well as
with the nature of the cultures them-
selves. Only then does it become pos-
sible to comprehendarchitecturallynot
only the mosque, but the tomb and
the palace. Only then is it possible to
trace the impact of Islam on indige-
nous buildingforms.
While the architecture of the Su-
danese mosque derives from North
Africa, Islamic architecture in West
Africa is nevertheless unique. It is a
corruption of neither Egyptian nor
North African form but expresses in
its essence the adjustmentsand modi-
fications to the highly ritualized char-
acter of Islam, which specificallypre-
scribesboth the floorplan of a mosque
and the activities relevant to its use.
THE ARCHITECTUREOF ISLAM
Although elsewhere Islamic archi-
tecture generally includes palaces and
tombs as well as mosques, in West
Africait is the mosque which embodies
Islam. Palaces and tombs are promi-
nent only during the span of the Is-
lamic empires of Ghana, Mali, and
Songhai. They appeared only when
commercial development fostered the
growthof urban centers and generated
the emergence of class groupings.
These in turn subsumedthe preceding
network of kinship relationships and
permitted the establishmentof an in-
cipient state structure,at whose seats
in the urban centers the sites of pal-
aces and tombs were to be found. On
the other hand, the mosque as an
architectural feature is omnipresent,
both spatially and temporally,despite
the formalvariationswhich may occur
in its diasporafrom north to south.
The spread of Islam into the west-
ern savannah falls into a number of
historical phases. These phases each
represent, in turn, a new cultural
pattern, varying with the process of
acculturationto Islam. If an architec-
tural style is a manifestationof a cul-
ture as a whole, representingthe crys-
tallization of a number of cultural
dimensions-not only those of environ-
ment and technology, but those of so-
cial, political, and economic spheres as
well-it should be possible to relate
the qualitative variables, which the
mosque evidences, to the historical
phases through which Islam passed. It
is, in fact, this interplay between the
various cultural dimensions, changing
over time and space in their physical
expression, that constitutes the fabric
of architecturalhistory.
Formal modifications, which take
place in the mosque as it travels from
northto south,pertainto size and scale,
structureitself, finesse of construction
and detail, definitionof plane surfaces
and the degree of verticality, as well
as to the deviationsfrom the prescribed
plan layout which Islamic orthodoxy
demands. This gradual formal trans-
formation results from many factors,
of which the changes in climatic con-
ditions,the presentand availablebuild-
ing materials,and the techniques and
skills of construction are but a few.
Equally important are the location of
the mosquein an urbanor ruralmilieu,
the method by which it was estab-
lished in the area-whether by a single
marabout,by a migrantpeople, or the
result of state-building activity-and
the degree of acceptance or rejection
of Islam and the related cultural at-
tributes of Islam by a host group.
The architecture of the Sudanese
mosque is, like its substrataof savan-
 nah building technology, essentially
mud architecture. While mud as a
building material permits great flexi-
bility and fluidity in the treatment of
plane surfaces, it imposes great limita-
tions upon potential structural form.
Thus, within the discipline of the ma-
terial, a number of basic variations
emerge. These variations group them-
selves into five categories: the Tim-
bucktu, Djenne, Bobo Dioulasso, Kong,
and Kawara types. This classification
relates not only to alteration in the
formal arrangementof minarets, stairs,
and inner courtyards, which are the
result of deviation from prescribed
practice and politics of orthodoxIslam,
but to stylistic and qualitative dimen-
sions as well. In turn, these five types
find correlationwith the historical pe-
riods of Islam's penetration into West
Africa and with the changing cultural
characterof each period.
The firstphase in the spreadof Islam
into the Western Sudan began with
the influx of Arabized Berber traders
and clerics from Mauretania,reaching
its apex in the adoption of Islam as
an imperial cult. This expansion, per-
sonified in the fame of Mansa Musa
and Askia Muhamed I, was centered
in the great urban trading capitals of
first,Timbucktu (see Illustration1) and
then, Gao. Islam as an imperial cult
was an urban phenomenon, limited to
the immediate trading community.
Here it existed side by side with a
mosaic of indigenous African religions.
The lack of both a rural base and con-
flict with traditionalrule lent a dualist
character to Islam. It is to this phase
of Islamic history that the Timbucktu
type, exemplified in both the Djingue-
reber and the Sankore mosques, as
well as in the tomb of Askia Muhamed
at Gao (2), corresponds.
Its appearance is limited to a few
majorurban centers, at that time entre-
pots of trans-Saharantrade and the
seats of precariousempires.The massive
scale and the pyramidal minarets gen-
erate an extreme feeling of heaviness, a
heaviness further accentuated by the
lack of plane definition. The minarets
are built up solidly of mud, permitting
only a shaft-like access to their roofs.
The exterior surface of the minarets
are pierced by projecting timbers
which, while appearing haphazard,
nevertheless provide permanent scaf-
folding for the maintenance of mud
wall surfaces-a requirement imposed
by climatic conditions.They also trans-
mit the stresses which are set up when
a mass of mud is subjected to rapid
changes in humidity and temperature.
The timbers thus serve to concentrate
the resultant cracking along prescribed
lines.
Tradition credits the introductionof
the Sudanese building style as a whole,
and the Timbucktu type in particular,
to an Andalusianpoet, Es-Saheli, who Where in
was brought back by Mansa Musa on
his return from a grand pilgrimage to
Mecca. However, the tradition has the World
been questioned by a number of au-
thorities. Architectural style is rarely can you find copies of
set by a single designer functioning
out of his milieu. The adaptation of a
style requires a supporting technology
african arts/arts dt'arique
and skills derivative of the cultural set- for sale?
ting into which it is introduced, both
of which were lacking at Timbucktu.
Timbucktu never developed as a well, for example-
center of Negro-Islamic learning, de-
spite the existence of a universitycenter
in Ibadan, Nigeria:
there. It never became a true city-state, University Book Shop
and its peoples remained heterogene-
in Monrovia, Liberia:
ous, never constitutinga unified group.
The city was kept in a continual state Ahmadiyya Mission
of insecurity by its own disunity and
by the continual harassment of no-
Bookshop
madic Tuareg tribes. Thus the architec- 116 Carey Street
ture of its mosques, while massive and in New York:
powerful in scale, remains heavy and
crude. Nonetheless, these Great Hacker's Art Books
Mosques do representthe most ancient 54 West 57th Street
prototype of Islamic architecture in
in Auckland, New Zealand:
West Africa, a prototype which has
persisted in time. Although the recon- Paul's Arcade Book Shop
struction of the Sankore mosque is of P.O. Box 3576
recent date, it continues to embody
the earlierform. in Brussels:
Contrary to general impression, it Le Livre Africain
was Djenne rather than Timbucktu
which developed not only into a more 40 rue du Champ de Mars
stable center of trade, but became the in Chicago:
intellectual seat of Negro-Islamiclearn-
Sticks and Stones, Inc.
ing. As a city-state, Djenne was sup-
ported in its hinterland by a strong 5210 S. Harper Avenue
agricultural foundation, and its posi- in London:
tion on the Bani River protected it
with an admirable network of water- Dillon's University
ways. As a consequence, it was not Bookshop, Ltd.
subject to the same ravages which be- 1 Malet Street, W.C. 1
leaguered Timbucktu. Djenne marks a
second phase in Islamic history, a in Paris:
phase in which Negro-Islamic culture
flourishedover a number of centuries.
Agence Hachette
With the growth of a stable, urban 79, Blvd. St. Germain
milieu, there developed the skilled in Blantyre, Malawi:
craftsmanship so essential for the Times Record Shop
growth of an articulate architecture.
Djenne's cityscape is characterizedby P.O. Box 445
a distinctive, carefully articulated ar-
chitectural flavor, a flavor which be- If you have an interested
comes crystallized in its mosque. Since and discriminating
climatic restrictions placed upon mud
clientele, won't you
construction within the Niger flood
plains are no different than those fur-
inquire of us
ther north, contrastwith the Timbucktu concerning arrangements
type can only be explained culturally. to handle
The Djenne type of mosque(3), african arts/arts d'afrique
paralleling the apical role and position and to act as subscription
of Djenne in West African history, ap-
pears as a quintessence of architectural agents?
form. Formal elements are carefully
and sharply defined in the interplay of
wall surfaces, in parapet construction, african arts/arts d'afriaue
and through the use and placement of
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
wooden dentils obtained by cutting the
LOS ANGELES, CALIF. 90024
71
trunks of the fan palm. The symmetry
of its fagade, composed of three major
minarets rhythmically interspersed
with absolutely vertical buttresses,
competes with the best traditions of
the Beaux Arts. Above all, it achieves
a sense of verticality-one of those
canons of architecture-unrivalled in
this part of the world. In contrast to
the Timbucktu type which possesses
only a feeling for mass, the Djenne
mosque achieves a remarkable sense
of spatial enclosure. The minarets are
not built up of a mass of solid material,
but rather enclose an ample set of
spiral mud stairs which leads upwards
to the roof from where the muezzin
calls the faithful to prayer: the mina-
rets are thus an expression of their
true function. The incorporationof the
minaret as an integral element of the
facade itself marks an innovation in
mosque design. The mosque interior
with its rhythmic definition of space
might, with a bit of imagination,easily
satisfy the criterion of loftiness with
which Gothic architecture endows the
cathedral(4). Its setting, conforming
to the classic tenets of urban design,
provides a formal approachwhich per-
mits the viewer to marvel at the mag-
nitude of its scale and structure, a
magnitude enhanced by the residual
architecture which serves as its back-
drop.
The Djenne prototype can be found
in a number of large towns bordering
the Niger flood plains, such as at
Mopti(5) and San(6). The mosques at
Mopti and San, although reputed to
have been built by Djenne craftsmen,
do not retain the qualitative level of
the Djenne mosque. The one at Mopti,
while retaining the finesse of detail and
an equally sharp delineationof surfaces
in its buttressing, is deprived of some
of its monumentality by both the ab-
sence of a plaza-type approachand the
lack of a strongly defined facade sym-
metry. The mosque at San, while very
much a replica of Djenne in regard to
symmetry and approach, suffers in the
articulationof its detail, the sharpness
of delineation, and in its verticality.
While the mosques at Timbucktu,
dating back many centuries, have been
(6) Mosqueat San
72
continuously modified as a result of
annual maintenance, the mosque at
Djenne and its replicas are of recent
vintage, dating from the turn of this
century. It would seem that the per-
sistence of a constant form over such
a great span of time provides one of
the keys to an understandingof their
unique quality. They remain a testi-
mony to the early centuries of Islamic
penetration into West Africa, marking
a period of expansive state-building
activity.
The Djenne and Timbucktu types
eventually merge, giving rise centuries
later to two new variations: the Bobo
Dioulasso(7) and the Kong(8) types,
both found in the southerly savannah
reaches of the Western Sudan, in an
area encompassedby the activities rel-
evant to the Samori jihad. Both types
relate to the dispersion of and the col-
onization by Mande peoples moving
down from the northwest, a diaspora
initiated and led by their trading
classes. Although the Mande immi-
grants into the southern savannah
zones were pagan, the trading classes
among them were Muslims. It was the
Muslim Mande traders who, extending
their commercial activities over vast
areas of what is now the northern
Ivory Coast, northwesternGhana, and
the southern Upper Volta, created the
commercialcenters aroundwhich Mus-
lim communitiesgrew. However, these
centers were in large measure autono-
mous,their solidarityreinforcedthrough
isolation. Where their commercial ac-
tivity enabled them to increase their
influence over the surroundingpagan
communities, they were able to gain
political control and to form small
village-states. Thus, Bobo Dioulasso
and Kong types are an expressionof a
politico-religiousstructure vested in a
village-in contrastto the earlier large
mosques which were symbolic of an
imperial organization. As a conse-
quence, they are much smallerin scale
and lack the monumentality which
characterize both the Timbucktu and
Djenne types. They appear as small,
modified scale models of their north-
ern counterparts.Distinctions between
the Bobo and Kong types rest primar-
ily on an adaptationto climatic condi-
tions, rather than on distinctions in
culturaltradition.
At Bobo Dioulasso, the vertical but-
tressingso sharplydelineated at Djenne
is still discernible, as are the dominat-
ing minarets derivative of Timbucktu.
However, the flaring out and thicken-
ing of the buttress elements at their
base detracts from the quality of ver-
tical rhythm, a quality still evident but
rapidly disappearing under the on-
slaught of reduced scale and climatic
accommodation. Projecting timbers,
particularly from the two minarets,
still manage to retain a semblance of
regularity, but their multiplicity, cou-
pled with the introductionof horizontal
bracing between the dominant but-
tress forms, detracts further from ver-
ticality. Both innovationsare a function
of the increased humidity of the south-
ern savannah. Despite these modifica-
tions, however, the classic mosque
floor plan with its enclosed prayerhall,
its mihrab, its interior courtyard, and
internal stair spiralingwithin the mina-
ret to the roof, all remain.
Kong, another one-time capital of a
village-state, was an importantMuslim
Mande center of commerce, lying
much closer to the rainforest.Timber
here is both more plentiful and avail-
able in greater lengths. But it is never-
theless savannah timber, characterized
by gnarling and distortive growth, in
contrast to the straight grain of the
fan palm which is available further
north. The increasedrains require even
heavier buttressing and increased an-
nual maintenance,as well as additional
horizontal reinforcing.The result is an
architecturalform which uses and re-
flects a second material: wood. How-
ever, this now extensive use of timber
reinforcing, while creating an interest-
ing contrastof media, at the same time
introduces horizontalityas a major de-
sign feature. There is a furtherdecrease
in buttress definition, and a more bul-
bous minaret emerges. The minaret,
now a solid mass of mud, no longer
houses the access stair. It has lost its
function, remainingonly as a symbolic
link to Mecca. One almost feels as if
the mosque at Kong does not quite get
off the ground.
The use of timber for horizontal
bracing in the proximity of the rain-
forest is a function of the size of the
mosque. The size of the mosque is
itself a function of the urban milieu.
As a consequence,the use of horizontal
timber bracing in the southern savan-
nah prevailsonly in the largermosques,
those found in the centers of what
were once village-states. As one moves
out into the rural landscape, the scale
of the mosque, such as that of Lara-
banga(9), diminishes further, a result
not only of size, but of the broader
based buttressing which the lack of
building skill demands. Islam comes to
the rural scene in the person of a
single marabout, and he builds from
memory a replica of a mosque seen
elsewhere, without benefit of either
supporting skills, technology, or com-
mitment to Islam by the host popula-
tion. The mosque gradually loses any
resemblance, in its plan, to either its
northern counterparts or to the rigid
prescriptionsof Islamic orthodoxy.En-
trances, losing their human scale, be-
come diminutive, so that it becomes
Continuedon p. 74
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necessary to stoop in order to enter.
The minaret loses its dominant posi-
tion in the design and is hardly dis-
tinguishable from the bulk of buttress-
ing.
Finally, as if to complete the cycle,
the Kawara mosque stands as the
epitomy of a rural mosque(10). Al-
though absolutely fluid in its three di-
mensions, the Kawara type is totally
lacking in either verticality or monu-
mentality. It no longer possesses any
architectural feeling for spatial enclos-
ure, remaining rather with only a sculp-
tural feeling for mass. Architectural
form has dissolved into sculptural
form. The use of the mosque interior
has been abandoned-it no longer has
an architectural function. Its plan bears
no resemblance to the classic mosque
form, and Friday activities take place
in a demarcated open space adjoining
the symbolic structure. It is this type
of mosque, not as well executed, not as
striking, not as consistent in its sculp-
tural fluidity as the Kawara example,
which prevails on the rural savannah
landscape.
Thus, although there exists a singular
architectural style in West Africa, vari-
ous factors have entered into its altera-
tion and modification as it traveled from
the bend of the Niger River to the
periphery of the rainforest in the wake
of Islamic penetration. The modifica-
tion was explained only in part by
attempts to maintain a form arising
out of one set of environmental con-
ditions, in areas where physical condi-
tions were less conducive to its mainte-
nance. A major part of the explanation
lies rather in the less rigid adherence
to the dogma and forms prescribed by
Islamic doctrine. If it is true that archi-
tecture is a conscious expression of
commitment, that it is a physical ex-
pression for symbolism, that it is an
intellectualization of material elements
arranged in three dimensions, that it
is actually a reflection of culture at a
given point in time, then any changes
which take place in that particular
culture are also reflected architectur-
ally. The modifications witnessed in
(9) Mosque at Larabanga
74
the mosque form support the above
hypothesis, for indeed the basic revi-
sions to, and the relaxationsof, Islamic
dogma, are reflected in the architecture
of the Sudanesemosque.
Architectural expression involves a
constancy of form which gives rise to
a style, an accompanying emotional
involvement by the viewer and the
user, and a monumentality through
which symbolism is achieved. Where
these qualities exist, one can speak of
architectureas being present.
Architecture, unlike the other fine
arts, deals with the problem of use/
utility/function alongside the problem
of symbolic expression. A piece of ar-
chitecture,in additionto being of direct
physical service to man, becomes an
expression of his social and cultural
aspirations.When, as in the case of an
arc de triomphe, the symbolism itself
is its function, the structure created
moves over into the realm of sculpture.
When architecturalforms become a
style, they act as a vehicle of expres-
sion for group identification.However,
certain requisitesshould be fulfilledbe-
fore this emotional involvement can
be attached to a physical manifesta-
tion: an institutionalization of that
expression into a system of constant
elements, forms, and qualities within
a society, and the visual identity of a
particular structure through a unity
of formalelements.
As one traces the Sudanese mosque
from its northerly-most Timbucktu
site to its southerly-mostKong site, the
consistency of its form is striking. De-
spite the modifications which occur,
this constancy of symbolic form is so
strong that no matter where one trav-
els, no matter what the indigenous
ethnically defined building patterns
may be, the mosque is immediately
identifiable by its distinctive architec-
tural features.
The use of architectural form to
achieve explicit symbolic statements of
the nature of a society is not unique
in history: the pyramids, the feudal
castle, St. Peters, Versailles,or Brasilia,
as well as the Great Mosques of Kairo-
uan or Cordovaare all illustrativeof the
cultures which created them. The Su-
danese mosque is no different.It, too, is
a symbolizationachieved by emotional
responsewhich a visual identity evokes.
The mosque embodies the role of islam
in West Africa as a religious, political,
and an economic force.
It is also necessary to distinguishthe
symbolism of an ancestral shrine from
the symbolism involved in the expres-
sion of a range of socio-political rela-
tionships within society. The shrine
has a symbolic value only for the all-
inclusive role which kinship plays in
a particular society; but when the so-
ciety becomes more differentiatedand
(8) Mosque at Kong
the ruling powers are desirous of
maintaining their position, symbolism
achieves permanence through monu-
mentality. Dwellings are not monu-
mental nor are the shrines within them.
Only those edifices which express the
prevailing dominant theme running
through the fabric of a society can
achieve monumentality. In the history
of West Africa it is the mosque, and
not the pagan tribal head's "palace,"
which has achieved architectural monu-
mentality. The mosque becomes an
expression of the multiple role which
Islam played in subsuming the kinship
function and in creating an incipient
state structure. Indigenous cultures
were, in the main, acephalous or poly-
cephalous societies with little political
differentiation. Hence the residences
of tribal rulers, while boasting superb
sculptural appendages, never achieved
the level of architectural definition or
distinction which might lay a base for
monumentality.
Monumentality is achieved formally
through a sense of verticality-both
symbolic and accessible-whether it
be the Sumer ziggurat, the Gothic
spire, the U.N. Building or the Islamic
minaret. One is tempted to use the
prevalence of a vertical quality in the
Sudanese mosque as a measure of
Islam's efficacy within a particular in-
digenous culture as one follows the
basic form in its journey from Djenne
to Kawara.
Architecture has been defined as a
physical expression involving a con-
stancy of form and an accompanying
symbolism. Such symbolism, when all-
encompassing, is embodied in monu-
mentality as a qualitative dimension.
Verticality is one of the means by
which such monumentality is achieved.
All the above noted qualities are pres-
ent, in varying degree, in the Islamic
architecture of West Africa, as em-
bodied in its mosques. Singular and
distinctive, the Sudanese mosques are
three-dimensional crystallizations of
the unique synthesis between the kind
of Islam which penetrated from across
the Sahara and the indigenous cultures
of West Africa-a synthesis nutured in
U
the savannah environment.