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Category Archives: Heritage Sites – Mali

Timbuktu’s Djinguereber Mosque

27 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Heritage Sites - Mali

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Djinguereber Mosque

Just as a public clock might establish the rhythm of some towns and cities, the Djinguereber mosque has set the time for nearly 700 years. Only recent attention on northern Mali – including a 2012 Jihadist occupation – has disrupted the gentle routine built around five prayers a day and an annual “restoration week” that triggers a DIY frenzy in the city’s homes. “We have not had to do major patching up since 2006 when the Aga Khan’s restoration programme began,” says the Djinguereber muezzin, Mahamane Mahanmoudou. “But I can see some small cracks now. We will have to do some work this year,” says the 77-year-old, who is also mason-in-chief of the mosque.

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Manuscripts Rescued from the Hands of Islamist Rebels

18 Thursday Dec 2014

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Heritage Sites - Mali, Manuscripts - Africa - Mali

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Timbuktu renaissance

A series of 15th- and 16th-century manuscripts, smuggled out of Timbuktu in 2012 after the city fell into the hands of Islamist rebels, go on show this week (19 December 2014 – 22 February 2015) at the Centre for Fine Arts in Brussels (Bozar). The exhibition, “Timbuktu Renaissance”, includes 16 original manuscripts with texts about science, politics and law, and was organised by Abdel Kader Haidara, the director of the Mamma Haidara library in Timbuktu. After war broke out in Mali in April 2012, and jihadist insurgents took over the city, he helped secretly transport a trove of manuscripts, books and documents to the Malian capital Bamako.

Read More:  Manuscripts Rescued from the Hands of Islamist Rebels

How the City of Mud Stays Standing: Meet the Masons of Djenné, Mali

01 Tuesday Oct 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Architecture - Mali, Heritage Sites - Mali

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Mud masons of Mali

The story of Djenné, Mali, is typically told through its architecture—monumental mud-brick structures that seem to rise out of the earth like a desert mirage. Every building in Djenné’s historic sector, designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988, has been molded and reinforced by generations of mud masons, following an indigenous tradition as old as the city itself. When Natural History Museum curator Mary Jo Arnoldi traveled to Djenné in 2010, she wanted to meet the masons behind the city of mud, to give them a chance to “tell this story in their own words.”

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Safeguard the Manuscripts of Djenné

27 Wednesday Feb 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Heritage Sites - Mali, Manuscripts - Africa - Mali

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Manuscripts in DjenneThe world has been focusing on the Malian city of Timbuktu and on the fate of its ancient shrines and manuscripts, but few are aware of the city of Djenné, 220 miles to the south-west. This Unesco World Heritage Site sits in the heart of the Niger delta, just 75 miles south of Sévaré, the town from which the French continue to launch air strikes into the north of Mali, where pockets of rebels are still present.

Read More: The Manuscripts of Djenne

Slaying Saints and Torching Texts

07 Thursday Feb 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Heritage Sites - Mali

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Mali Al Qaidas CountryWhen I first journeyed to Bamako to research Sufism in Mali in 2006, my American students generally asked two questions: Where is Mali and what is Sufism? Today, the answer to both of these questions is found daily in the headline news. Cultural heritage in Mali is under attack. But just as the armed conflict there is not simply a battle between Islamic extremists and a weak Malian army supported by the French, the destruction of Sufi shrines and Islamic manuscripts not merely the result of an iconoclastic and intolerant religious fanaticism. While these violent attacks on Mali’s Islamic heritage are indeed tragic, they are sadly not isolated or unique.

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New Fears for Timbuktu in Mali Conflict

20 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by StudiesIslamica in Heritage Sites - Mali

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Sankore Mosque, TimbuktuAs the violence in Mali escalates following France’s intervention to halt the advance of Islamist fighters, UNESCO has issued calls for the protection of the ancient city of Timbuktu, urging armed forces to safeguard the nation’s historic and religious landmarks.

Read More: New Fears for Timbuktu

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