Culture & Heritage

The heritage lovers of Hyderabad were served with a feast for their eyes last month when the famed Salar Jung Museum put on display the Nizam Jewellery under impregnable security arrangements. The jewellery whose worth is currently assessed at Rs. 20,000 crore was brought here from the high security vaults of Reserve Bank of India in Mumbai.


The exquisite jewellery worn by the seven Kings and the Begums of Asafjahi dynasty were put for public display for the second time (first time in the National Museum in New Delhi). Studded with diamonds, rubies, turquoise, emeralds and pearls, the gold jewellery was the bone of contention between the Nizam family and the government of India for nearly 50 years. Prolonged litigation ended in 1995 when the government of India decided to buy them from the heirs of the Nizam in lieu of Rs. 225 crore. Since then, they have been declared as national heritage.

The entire community of Djenne takes an active role in the mosque’s maintenance through an unique annual festival.


The Great Mosque of Djenne is the largest mud brick building in the world and is considered by many architects to be the greatest achievement of the Sudano-Sahelian architectural style. The mosque is located in the city of Djenné, Mali on the flood plain of the Bani River. The first mosque on the site was built in the 13th century, but the current structure dates from 1907. As well as being the centre of the community of Djenné, it is one of the most famous landmarks in Africa. Along with the “Old Towns of Djenne” it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1988.


The Great Mosque is unusual among West African mosques, in that its site was not sacred prior to its establishment — the location was previously occupied by a palace. Other mosques were built on the same locations as conical, mud-brick or stone spires representing the protective spirits of ancestors. Some scholars of Islamic architecture, such as Labelle Prussin, believe that these conical spires were integrated into the design of mosques throughout Mali, and point to the Great Mosque as the most prominent example.


Amadou Lobbo ordered the demolition of the original Great Mosque in 1834. Peul conqueror, Amadou Lobbo, who took Djenné in his jihad, ordered the original mosque demolished in 1834. He considered the original structure, which had been modified from a palace, to be too lavish. The only portion of the original building that still survives is an enclosure containing the graves of local leaders. A re-creation of the original was completed in 1896, but was subsequently demolished to make way for the current structure.


Construction on the current Great Mosque began in 1906 and was probably completed in 1907 or 1909. The mosque’s construction was supervised and guided by the head of Djenne’s mason guild, Ismaila Traoré. At the time, Djenné was part of the colony of French West Africa and the French may have offered political and economic support for the construction of both the mosque and a nearby madrasa. While the Great Mosque has been equipped with a loudspeaker system, the citizens of Djenne have resisted modernisation in favour of the building’s historical integrity.


The walls of the Great Mosque are made of sun-baked mud bricks called ferey, a mud-based mortar, and are coated with a mud plaster which gives the building its smooth, sculpted look. The walls insulate the building from heat during the day and by nightfall have absorbed enough heat to keep the mosque warm through the night. Half of the mosque is covered by a roof and the other half is an open air prayer hall or courtyard. Water damage, in particular flooding, was a major concern of Traoré when he planned the construction. The Great Mosque was constructed on a raised platform which has so far protected the mosque from even the most severe floods.


The entire community of Djenné takes an active role in the mosque’s maintenance through an unique annual festival. In the days leading up to the festival, the plaster is prepared in pits. It requires several days to cure, but needs to be periodically stirred, a task usually falling to young boys who play in the mixture, thus stirring up the contents. Men climb onto the mosque’s built-in scaffolding and ladders made of palm wood and smear the plaster over the face of the mosque. Another group of men carry the plaster from the pits to the workmen on the mosque. A race is held at the beginning of the festival to see who will be the first to deliver the plaster to the mosque. Women and girls carry water to the pits before the festival, and to the workmen on the mosque.


The original mosque presided over one of the most important Islamic learning centres in Africa during the Middle Ages. Thousands of students came to study the Qur’an in Djenné’s madrassas. While there are many mosques that are older than its current incarnation, the Great Mosque remains the most prominent symbol of both the city of Djenné and the nation of Mali.