Work
Great Mosque of Djenné
Explore in the Atlas →The largest adobe building in the world, its current form (rebuilt under master mason Ismaila Traoré) embodies the Sudano-Sahelian tradition and a communal re-plastering ritual that renews the structure each year.
Ritual Collectivity Dwelling
Details
- Type
- Building
- Location
- Djenné, Mali
Classifications
- Holder
- Communal intergenerational
- Source of authority
- Revelation cosmologyAncestry
- Subject
- Human centred
- Degree of codification
- Protocol performed
- Mode of transmission
- Oral song embodiedApprenticeship
- Knowledge type
- Relational embodied
- Epistemic cluster
- AfricanIslamic mena
Connections
- exemplifies Vernacular Architecture
Sources
- Jean-Louis Bourgeois. Spectacular Vernacular: The Adobe Tradition. Aperture, 1989.
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Old Towns of Djenné (World Heritage List 116). UNESCO, 1988.
Cite this entry
First published May 2026Last revised Jul 2026
CLAD. "Great Mosque of Djenné." Atlas of Architectural Thought. CLAD, 2026. https://www.cl-ad.com.au/research/atlas/work/great-mosque-of-djenne/. Accessed July 17, 2026.