Dr. Annette Schmidt is curator Africa of Museum Volkenkunde, Leiden

Time: 2 pm (doors open 13:30 pm)
Venue: Museum Volkenkunde, Steenstraat 1, Leiden (rmv.nl)

Everyone is welcome!

Entrance to the museum is free for owners of a Museum card 

This lecture will be organised by the Sahara Society in association with Museum Volkenkunde, on the occassion of the installment of a new board and the recent new setup of the Africa department of the museum.

Mali is a land famous for its mud brick architecture. The big mosque of Djenné is the largest mud brick building in the world and also one of the most famous monuments of Africa. Together with the ancient city of Djenné, it has featured on UNESCO's world heritage list since 1988.

Djenné was a prosperous city along the trans-Saharan trade route, when Arabic merchants introduced Islam in the region. This led to the construction of the first mosque during the 13th century. It was demolished in 1834, rebuilt in 1896 and subsequently demolished again to make place for the present structure, which was completed in 1907 during the French occupation. 

The big mosque as well as the city's traditional houses, of which around 2000 have been preserved, are splendid examples of traditional folk architecture. Built on top of hills (toguere) to be protected against seasonal floods from the nearby Bani river, sun-baked mud bricks (ferey) and plastering was used in their construction. These locally abundant materials keep the buildings cool during the day and warm during the night, when the sun's warmth collected during the day is gradually released.

In her lecture, dr. Annette Schmidt will elaborate on these and other aspects of the mud brick architecture of Djenné.