{"id":506,"date":"2012-07-20T18:18:50","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T18:18:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/?p=506"},"modified":"2014-06-18T02:40:25","modified_gmt":"2014-06-18T02:40:25","slug":"mud-mosque-of-bobo-diaoulasso","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/?p=506","title":{"rendered":"Mud Mosque of Bobo-Diaoulasso"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Ougadougou we headed toward western Burkina. \u00c2\u00a0 We had an overnight bush stop near Boromo, where we were treated to some good off-roading in search of a campement <\/em>which we eventually gave up on for fear of getting trapped by more rain and instead retreated to stay closer to the main road.\u00c2\u00a0 Next was Bobo -Diaoulasso, Burkina’s third largest city to see the spectacular mud mosque.<\/p>\n

Islam is a very important religion throughout much of Africa and this phenomenon is well-represented in \u00c2\u00a0West Africa.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 The faith was brought here by traders crossing the Sahara a thousand years ago, Timbuctou was a center of muslim acadenia and scholarship hundreds of years ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Today significant portions of the populations of most West African countries are muslim, in Burkina Faso it is about 40% of the population. Every village has at least one mosque, they are certainly the most common religious structure and call to prayer is resounds through the streets.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Typical Village Mosque in Sahel, this one is from Burkina<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the great architectural manifestations Islam in West Africa is the unique mud mosques that are present throughout the Sahel.\u00c2\u00a0 Built only from mud, they are also identified by the pieces of wood, usually tree branches, that stick out\u00c2\u00a0 from the sides.\u00c2\u00a0 Contrary to first impressions, these pieces of wood do not serve any structural purpose, rather they are intended to serve as a permanent scaffolding to provide easy access for replastering and painting work which has to be done every year.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Mud Mosque of Bobo Dialassou<\/p><\/div>\n

We went to Bobo-Diaoulasso in western Burkina Faso to see one of the larger examples.\u00c2\u00a0 Built in the 1840s it has some 56 mud pillars that are \u00e2\u20ac\u0153towers\u00e2\u20ac\u009d that provide support for the roof over the prayer area inside.\u00c2\u00a0 \u00c2\u00a0Each of these pillars is about 4\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 by 4\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 and they easily take up a quarter of the interior floor area.\u00c2\u00a0 That means it does not have a large open hall that is characteristic of other mosques.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Interior of of Bobo Mosque<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Below are some shots of the smaller mud mosque at Nakori in northern Ghana we visited on another occasion.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Nakori Mosque near Wa, capital of Upper West Region of Ghana<\/p><\/div>\n

Our first night in Bobo was at a place called Casafrica, which had little to recommend it, and the worst washrooms we had seen.\u00c2\u00a0 We did like Bobo enough to give it a second night, but after one night in CasaAfrica we decided we needed a night in a hotel.\u00c2\u00a0 We found a great place called Toucouleurs, complete with TV, WiFI and a lovely pool.\u00c2\u00a0 It was real treat, much deserved after a couple of weeks of roughing it.<\/p>\n

There is more to see in Bobo than the lovely mosque.\u00c2\u00a0 The city itself is very laid back and pleasant, with wide boulevards running from large traffic circles each with a sculpture.\u00c2\u00a0 It is a bit reminiscent of the work of Bernard Hausman in Paris and Washington, ironic given the relative poverty of the country.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/dt>\n
Place de la Nation in Bobo<\/dt>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
<\/dd>\n
We also toured the oldest section of the city which is like a small village almost separate from the city that surrounds it.\u00c2\u00a0 One pays a formal admission to enter with a guide who explains the different sections of the neighbourhood.\u00c2\u00a0 It is quite a masterful blend of history, contemporary life, and a working craft village.\u00c2\u00a0 There was one place where a craftsman made drums out of his house, another workshop where they worked with brass using the so-called “lost brass method”, another where they made “bark-cloth” purses and bags, where the cotton or leather is coloured using dyes made from bark of different local trees.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/dd>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/dd>\n
\n
<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After Ougadougou we headed toward western Burkina. \u00c2\u00a0 We had an overnight bush stop near Boromo, where we were treated to some good off-roading in search of a campement which we eventually gave up on for fear of getting trapped by more rain and instead retreated to stay closer to the main road.\u00c2\u00a0 Next was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[16,25,32,30,13,24,14,15,22,21,23],"class_list":["post-506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-west-african-wander-taking-it-on-the-road","tag-4x4","tag-africa","tag-bobo-diaoulasso","tag-burkina","tag-defender","tag-expedition","tag-land-rover","tag-overland","tag-overlanding","tag-west-africa","tag-wheatcroft","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.overlandrover-westafrica.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}