Tindirma Mosque

Tindirma, Mali

West African mud mosques satisfy all the standard expectations of mosque architecture -- with the qibla marked buy its mihrab, minarets, interior spaces delineated by transverse naves and aisles of columns -- while at the same time abstracting these forms that were canonized in the regions of the post-Byzantine, early Islamic Empire. Sebastian Schutyser's photographs capture and perhaps exaggerate the otherworldly quality of Mail's mosques. By extracting people and surrounding buildings from the frame the eye is drawn to the materials and forms, which adhere to what is a unique design program particularly suited to the region, but that still serves typical mosque functions of worship and gathering.

Mali's mud mosque architecture is directly related to local domestic architecture. Materials are selected both for their economy and their appropriateness for the remarkably hot climate. Earth used to create mud mortar and mud plaster, and minimal palm wood for scaffolding and roofs, as timber is a rare and costly commodity, compose the forms. In his recently published survey, Historic Mosques in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Timbuktu to Zanzibar, Stephane Pradines draws a more nuanced classification of mosque architecture, including the mosque of Tindirma in a group he describes as follows:

"The mosques of the Niger bend and the pre-Saharan steppe form a group corresponding to the northern extremity of the Sahel, in direct contact with the desert. The principal façade of the mosques of the Niger bend is smooth, with no vertical elements, and terraces with merlons are rare. On the external façade the mihrab forms a low protruberance ending in a conical point but which is not surmounted by a tower. Inside the prayer hall the pillars are massive, there are no arcades, and the mural decorations are few. Only the minaret stands out in these rather low buildings. In short, this group of mosques is situated mainly in the north of Mali and in Niger and is a prerogative of the Songhay and Tuareg populations. It is characterised by a minaret, a low and protruding conical mihrab tower, the rarity of the butresses and battlements, and massive supports in the prayer hall, as in the mosques of Sankore and Sidi Yahya in Timbuktu and Tendirma in Mali"¹

Notes:

¹ Pradines, 55

Sources:

Maas, Pierre. 1990. Djenne: Living Tradition. In Aramco World Magazine January-February 1990. Robert Arndt (ed). Houston: Aramco Services Company.

Pradines, Stéphane. Historic Mosques in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Timbuktu to Zanzibar. Handbuch Der Orientalistik, volume 163. Leiden: Brill, 2022.

Snelder, Raoul. 1984. The Great Mosque at Djenne. In MIMAR 12: Architecture in Development. Singapore: Concept Media Ltd.