Clare Pawley

Clare's Gallery >> Mali mud mosques

The Sudanese mud mosques of Mali, are made from Banco; mud and dried stalks or animal dung. The organic shapes are formed from mud bricks then the more liquid Banco is applied by hand. The minarets are often topped with ostrich eggs, calabash or pottery as a first defence against the rain which can dissolve the buildings. The protruding timbers act as permanent scaffolding. The great Mosque in Djenne is the worlds largest mud building.

The Great Mosque, Djenne	The Great Mosque Djenne
The main entrance to the Djenne Mosque	Djenne Mosque
The Interior of Djenne mosque	Times of Prayer Djenne mosque
Market Day in Djenne	The great Mosque Djenne
Small mosque in the Dogon Village of Yenda	The mosque in Aka, on the banks on the Niger River
KaniKombole Mosque detail	Kani-kombole Mosque
The mosque at KaniKombole	The dry pond becomes a brickworks in Kani Kombole
KaniKombole in the wet season.	Mosque in the Dogon Village of Teli
The Mosque in M'Buna, a village on the Niger	Interior Courtyard M'Buna Mosque
Interior Courtyard M'Buna Mosque	Sankore Mosque in Timbuktu
The Sankore Mosque Timbuktu	Djingareiber Mosque in Timbuktu
The Inner courtyard of the Djingareiber Mosque	The ablutions courtyard, the Djingareiber Mosque
The Mosque in Mopti, "Venice" of Mali	To prevent erosion the Mopti Mosque was capped with concrete, this has since been removed by traditionalists.
Pottery protection for the Banco