Djenne was built in the 14th century, on high ground near the Niger, and becomes an island when the Niger floods. It is the oldest known city in sub-Saharan Africa, 220 miles south of Timbuktu (we still had a way to go). The old Town of Djenne and the Great Mosque (the most famous mosque in Mali) were named UNESCO World Heritage sites in 1988. (Experience Africa – Discover the real Africa with Intrepid Travel)

The Great Mosque is the largest clay building in the world and has three massive towers, with each spire capped by an ostrich egg (ostrich eggs symbolize fertility and purity). We arrived here on a Friday, when the main prayer ceremony of the week is held. …View image… As soon as the service ended, the plaza filled up with people in their very colorful costumes moving through a permanent cloud of sand.

after prayers in Djenne 

Imam leaving Mosque
It is also a center of Islamic learning and while walking along the street, I noticed this young boy (wearing a pair of pants that were barely held together) studying the Koran with intense concentration.

The Great Mosque is built on a raised plinth platform of rectangular sun-dried mud bricks that are held together by mud mortar and plastered over with mud. The walls vary in thickness between sixteen and twenty-four inches, depending upon their height. These massive walls are necessary in order to bear the weight of the tall structure and also provide insulation from the sun’s heat. During the day, the walls gradually warm up from the outside; at night, they cool down again. This helps the interior of the mosque to stay cool all day long.

Great Mosque of Djenne

The Mosque needs to be maintained and repaired every year by senior masons with new coats of mud. We watched houses being “mudded over” in the same fashion as the Great Mosque. The mud is mixed with rice husks, churned barefoot and then smoothed over the house (or Mosque) where it bakes dry.