Old Towns of Djenné

The Old Towns of Djenné in Mali are famous for their large-scale earthen architecture, especially the timber-reinforced mud-brick Great Mosque that dominates the town. The ensemble exemplifies traditional Sahelian building techniques and community maintenance practices.

The mud-brick mosque, with its characteristic conical buttresses and exposed wooden beams, is the focal point and is surrounded by dense earthen residential quarters and marketplace areas. The visual unity of the town comes from the continuous use of sun-dried earth and annual maintenance that preserves the façades.

Djenné has been an important regional centre since medieval times and served as a trading and Islamic learning centre in the Sahel. The present Great Mosque was rebuilt in the early 20th century on the site of older mosques, continuing a long tradition of earthen mosque architecture.

Djenné is located in central Mali on a floodplain of the Niger River system in the Mopti Region, with the town set among seasonal waterways and agricultural land downstream from the Inner Niger Delta.

• Crepissage festival: The annual replastering festival (crepissage) sees the whole community renew the mud coating of the Great Mosque and surrounding houses, usually in March or April.

What to See #

• Great Mosque of Djenné: The Great Mosque of Djenné, the largest mud-brick building in the world as reconstructed in the early 20th century, with timber scaffolding poles protruding from its façades.
• Earthen housing and market quarter: A tightly packed old town of compact earthen houses and narrow streets clustered around markets and public spaces on the floodplain of the Niger's tributaries.
• Communal maintenance and architecture: Community-built public architecture and urban fabric that are maintained through annual communal replastering festivals.