Gallery
Description
Property Name: Great Mosque at Gedi
Inventory No: 254-123-2
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2008-02-19
Country (State party): Kenya
Province: Malindi
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 3° 16′ 32.77″ S
40° 2′ 22.54″ E
Historic Period: 15th century, 1st half
Year of Construction: 1450, 15th-16th centuries
Style: Swahili
Original Use: Fortress
Current Use: Archeological park
Architect: Unknown
Significance
The Great Mosque is a typical East African congregational mosque with a rectangular plan with entranceways on its long sides and the mihrab on a short side obscured from view by a line of columns. This private mosque was situated in the northwest corner of the town of Gedi along with the Palace. The only remains from the original mosque are sections of the lower part of the wall left of the mihrab and pieces of fine-grained coral used on the mihrab.
Selection Criteria
vi. to be directly or tangibly associated with events or living traditions, with ideas, or with beliefs, with artistic and literary works of outstanding universal significance
State of Preservation
A dated coral tomb with beautiful Arabic script engraved with the date 1399. From the dated tomb, one can see the Great Mosque. The Great Mosque was excavated in 1954.
References
Garlake, Peter S. 1966. The Early Islamic Architecture of the East African Coast. London: Oxford University Press.