The minarets
Jutting beams.
qiv — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Artur Rumpel — CC BY-SA 3.0 · No machine-readable author provided. Semiliki assumed (based on copyright claims). — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Matthew from West Lafayette, USA — CC BY-SA 2.0 · No machine-readable author provided. Semiliki assumed (based on copyright claims). — CC BY-SA 3.0
The Grand Mosque of Bobo-Dioulasso is a mud-brick mosque in the Sudano-Sahelian style, in the old quarter of Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso's second city. It is one of the finest earthen mosques in West Africa, with two conical minarets and jutting wooden beams. It is the city's best-known landmark and symbol. In the late 18th century the area was ruled by the Kingdom of Sia, which faced the threat of the Kénédougou kingdom. The king of Sia asked the local religious leader Almamy Sidiki Sanou for help, and in return Sanou asked for a mosque to be built. Work began in 1812 and finished in 1832, with later enlargements and repairs, and part of the courtyard was roofed in 1983. You see pale sand-coloured earth walls with rows of tapering buttresses topped by points, and two tall minarets bristling with horizontal wooden beams. These beams are used in regular upkeep, when the walls are replastered with mud. An earthen square and trees surround the mosque. It stands in the old Dioulassoba quarter, about 200 metres from the city centre. Non-Muslims usually view it from outside, so ask before approaching and dress modestly. The UK Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to the whole of Burkina Faso, so read the current advice before any planning.
Jutting beams.
In rows.
Dioulassoba.
Dioulassoba, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso
Between 1812 and 1832.
Yes, the UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to the whole country.