Great Mosque in Djenne, The Largest Mud-Brick Building in The World

Founded in 800 AD, the town of Djenne in central Mali, is one of sub-Saharan Africa's oldest cities. Situated on an island in the Niger River delta, Djenne became the natural hub for traders who shuttled their goods such as salt, gold and slaves in and out of Timbuktu. Through the years Djenne also became the centres of Islamic scholarship, and its market square is still dominated by the beautiful Great Mosque. The Great Mosque of Djenné was built in 1907 and is considered by many architects to be the greatest achievement of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style, with definite Islamic influences. It is also the largest mud brick building in the world. There was another much older mosque in this site built around the 13th century, but by the 19th century the mosque fell into disrepair and abandoned to thousands of swallows, which build their nests in it. When Seku Amadu conquered Djenné during the Tukulor War, he disapproved the condition the mosque was in, had it closed and built another mosque close by. When French forces led by Louis Archinard captured Djenné in April 1893, he demolished Seku Amadu’s mosque and instead built a school in its place, while the original mosque was reconstructed to its current form. Photo credit The walls of the Great Mosque are made of sun-baked mud bricks called ferey, a mud based mortar, and are coated with a mud plaster which gives the building its smooth, sculpted look. The walls are between 41 cm (16 in.) and 61 cm (24 in.) thick - the thickness varying with the wall's height. Bundles of palm branches were included in the building to reduce cracking caused by frequent drastic changes in humidity and temperature and to serve as readymade scaffolding for annual repairs. The walls insulate the building from heat during the day and by nightfall have absorbed enough heat to keep the mosque warm through the night.