African Architecture of the Medieval Period

 One of the consistent underlying issues between Mali, Ethiopian, Zimbabwe, and Swahili architecture is a lack of consistency throughout shifting ideas around identity, particularly within issues of religion, culture, and location. Both Ethiopia and Swahili are located in areas that create an issue similar to a congestion of different motifs, as Ethiopia is located near the origins of Christianity which causes many different combinations of interpretations of the Bible in architecture. Similarly, Swahili is located very close to the Middle East and Asia, and as a result has a large fusion of architecture of which “origin” has been historically debated. Zimbabwe, contrastingly, struggles to interpret the ruins of Great Zimbabwe, especially as further research leads to more questions.

Religion has also led to destruction of architecture, especially within the context of the Great Mosque of Djenne in Mali, which was worn down purposefully by Sekou Amadou. As destroying a mosque is forbade in Islam, he blocked the gutters located near the top of the Great Mosque, which complicated draining water and rotted away the structure. Now reconstructed, the Great Mosque is created from adobe and forms a tall rectangle featuring pilasters with earthen mounds extending from their head and three minarets. On the minarets, wooden toron protrude from the facade, both to help drain moisture and to provide scaffolding for the annual replastering of the mosque in order to preserve the beautiful work of architecture.