Larabanga Mosque

About this place

Larabanga Mosque is a mud-built mosque in the Sudanese style, in the village of Larabanga in northern Ghana. It is the oldest mosque in the country and one of the oldest in West Africa, sometimes called the «Mecca of West Africa», and villagers still pray here. It is small, but its shape looks like nothing else in Ghana. Its founding is dated to 1421, and it has been restored several times, most recently in 2023. The World Monuments Fund helped with the work and listed it among the 100 most endangered sites, and the restoration revived knowledge of how adobe is maintained. The mosque holds an old Quran, which a local tradition says came as a gift from heaven in 1650 to the imam of the time. You see thick white walls topped by tall conical towers, with timber sticks projecting from them that are used when the plaster is renewed. A black base runs around the whole building, with black horizontal lines above it. Over the entrance is a triangle pierced with small holes. The best view is from a corner, where its largest tower stands out. This is a place of worship first, so dress modestly and avoid prayer times. One travel guide says non-Muslims do not enter the building itself, so you see it from outside. Villagers will usually offer a guide and ask for a donation. Tamale is about 113 km away in a straight line, and the road into Mole National Park starts here.