Gallery
Description
Property Name: Grand Mosque of Agadez
Inventory No: 227-2044-1
Date of infill of the inventory form: 2008-02-20
Country (State party): Niger
Province: Agadez
Town:
Geographic coordinates: 19° 31′ 9.31″ N
10° 9′ 17.83″ E
Historic Period:
Year of Construction: 16th-19th centuries
Style:
Original Use: Mosque
Current Use: Mosque
Architect: Unknown
Significance
The first mosque is thought to date to the Songhai conquest between 1501-16. It was rebuilt in 1844-9, by which time the main economic and political links were with the Hausa states further south. Projecting ‘dum’-palm beams on the minaret recall the Mande-Songhai mosques, while the single apsidal mihrab and the absence of a tower above the mihrab point to an element of Hausa influence.
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
It was made of clay and is the tallest mud-brick structure in the World. It was restored and some of it was rebuilt in 1844.
The site is marked by ancestral cultural, commercial and handicraft traditions still practiced today and presents exceptional and sophisticated examples of earthen architecture. It has been in World Heritage List since 2013.
References
Michell, George. ed. 1978. Architecture of the Islamic World; Its History and Social Meaning. London: Thanes & Hudson.