The Great Mosque of DjennéInstruments for Africa
Those who arrived in Djenne even as late as the early 1990s entered a city which had changed very little since the early middle ages.
The buildings were still all made from mud with the beautiful flourishes of the Sudano-Sahelian architecture, at night Djenne was illuminated by the moon and the bright stars of the African sky while in homes, traditional oil lamps burned.
Detail of the Great Mosque of DjennéInstruments for Africa
There was no running water but each house and court yard had its own well, and its own traditional lavatory. People went to the river to wash.
The Rooftop of the Great Mosque of DjenneInstruments for Africa
Those who saw the city then remember with nostalgia how clean it was, but since the arrival of that scourge of Africa, the plastic bag, and other signs of the encroaching consumer world, Djenne, like other cities of Africa is contaminated with plastic refuse.
Banco housesInstruments for Africa
The arrival of running water in the city through a European aid effort at the end of the twentieth century was a mixed blessing: there are no plumbers in the town and the new standing taps in the courtyards are forever dripping and leaking - not a good idea in a mud city!
Collecting water for the re-plastering of the MosqueInstruments for Africa
In addition, the wide cement guttering installed for the escape of the waste water quickly became blocked and covered over by mud because it was used for mixing up mud for the crepissage of the houses, until no one remembered that the guttering existed…
Men in front of the Great Mosque of DjennéInstruments for Africa
The whole city of Djenne together with the archaeological site of the first city: Djenne-Djeno became a UNESCO world heritage site Old Towns of Djenné in 1988. This conferred status and the recognition of the world that the city of Djenne was worth preserving.
It became a protected and revered location but this distinction also entailed the responsibility on its inhabitants to preserve it and not to build in other materials but mud in the city. This arrangement worked very well as long as peace lasted.
Waving the flag of Mali in front of the Great Mosque of DjenneInstruments for Africa
The tourist industry was flourishing in the first decade of the 21st century. Mali was becoming a popular destination for the more adventurous traveller and Djenne featured on the list of unmissable places for everyone who visited Mali.
The Djenne population, including many young who made good money as tourist guides, understood the value of tourism and its relationship to the Djenne architecture and the preservation of the city.
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