And We Will Never be Royals: Architecture of Kingdoms and Local Communities

Across the world's borders and societies, the architecture of kingdoms have always been a point of interest. We look to palaces, various estates, and residences of nobility to get a glance into the social hierarchy of civilization. This can often provide a glimpse at the idiosyncrasies of a people; cemented in the palatial walls are the values most esteemed and edified by the culture and those who have been placed at its apex. 

One factor of note is the distinction of the choreography of spaces seen in palace architecture in the West African region. As explored by Falade, the Yoruba created their palatial architecture with notable artistry that is carried out to all areas of its conception, most notably their palace gardens.  Born out of cultural, environmental, and religious necessity the palace complex itself, surrounded by high exterior walls and entered through grandiose thatched gables and porches known as kobi, would have a series of gardens and courtyards interwoven in its spatial organization. Imbued with both a utilitarian and aesthetic logic – to either grow herbs and food or display sculpture and religious artifacts – these gardens negotiated the king’s spiritual and practical needs to create “self-contained paradises” for all that he might require. (pp.47-56, 1990.)

Old palace of Oyo with Royal Gables (Kobi)

This negotiation between the natural world and palatial architecture is shared in the Asante architectural tradition. Also adopting a courtyard typology to derive its compounds of nobility, the Asante orchestrate a rectilinear rampart-like and pitched roof earthen spaces around open space. This courtyard space is often housed in the shrines and spiritual artifacts of the chieftaincy, as the rulers the architecture would house were also the religious and spiritual leaders of their communities. 

A distinction between the palatial architecture and that of the common royal subject can be seen through the use of ornament and motif. As the garments dawned by a king are distinctive from that worn by his subjects, so are the adornments of his immediate built environment. Various elegant motifs, symbols, and bas reliefs adorned wall surfaces, lintels, and columns in Asante and Dahomean palaces.

Across all these examples we can see that they share geographical dominances within their individual localities. Reflecting the social, political, and sometimes religious values attached to the traditional rulers they housed, the positioning of these royal edifices within the landscape is the keynote.  Commanding the center of their townships, palatial architecture across the West African region was sprawling in scale; creating expansive and intricately networked palatial complexes to house the chieftaincy, the noble families, and the many servants. 

Whether it is through exemplified skilled leadership or a believed divine birth, the architecture of the kingdom helps us to understand the values held most dear by a people. Through the lines of distinction drawn between those awarded power, influence, and privilege and the everyday inhabitants, we see points of commonality with each using architecture to strive for beauty and dominion.

References

• Labelle Prussin “Traditional Asante Architecture,” African Arts, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Feb., 1980), pp. 57-65+78-82+85-87.

• B. Falade “Yoruba Palace Gardens” Garden History, Vol. 18, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 47-56.

Annotated Bibliography: 

Working Title: The House of Prayer: Architecture, Identity, and Islam - A case study on the Toucouleur Mosques of Senegambia

Topic of Interest: Examining the evolution of a West African identity within the discourse of Islamic architecture to seek a point of coalescence of aesthetics to produce a unique mosque architecture as reflected byToucouleur Mosques of Senegambia. Looking at the vernacular interpretations and the aesthetic implications of the conception of a house of prayer in a Toucleur Tradition and its evolution through to present times. 

• Bourdier. (1993). The Rural Mosques of Futa Toro. African Arts, 26(3), 32–86. https://doi.org/10.2307/3337150

The architecture of the mosques in Futa Toro of the Tokolor people, often referred to as the first Islamized blacks, is discussed. The radical simplicity of the oldest adobe mosques in Futa Toro may be interpreted as a devotion to the early precepts of Islam.

 

• Cantone. (2012). Making and remaking mosques in Senegal. Brill.

This book constitutes a seminal contribution to the fields of Islamic architectural history and gender studies. It is the first major empirical study of the history and current state of mosque building in Senegal and the first study of mosque space from a gender perspective. The author positions Senegalese mosques within the field of Islamic architectural history, unraveling their history through pre-colonial travelers’ accounts to conversations with present-day planners, imams and women who continually shape and reshape the mosques they worship inches Using contemporary Dakar as a case study, the book’s second aim is to explore the role of women in the “making and remaking” of mosques. In particular, the rise of non-tariqa grass-roots movements (i.e.: the “Sunni/Ibadou” movement) has empowered women (particularly young women) and has greatly strengthened their capacity to use mosques as places of spirituality, education and socialization. The text is aimed at several specialized readerships: readers interested in Islam in West Africa, in the role of women in Islam, as well as those interested in the sociology and art-history of mosques.

• Bourdier, & Trinh, T. M.-H. (1996). Drawn from African dwellings. Indiana University Press.

This study takes us into the traditionally built dwellings of African society. This "life-in-architecture" material culture reveals the socioeconomic and cosmological organization and the world views of these societies. Bourdier and Trinh connect structural patterns - setting, design, decoration, orientation - to factors such as kinship, gender, history, religion, poetry, and oral traditions. The authors focus on a variety of African peoples, including the Fulbe, Tokolor, Sereer, Joola, Soninke, Mandingo, Jaxanke, and Bassari. Through photographs, detailed drawings, and theoretical reflections, Bourdier and Trinh challenge the common perception that traditional dwellings are static artifacts.

• Prussin. (1986). Hatumere : Islamic design in West Africa. University of California Press.

A survey as well as a theoretical study of the interface between the arts and architecture of West Africa, focusing on the role of Islam in shaping both

• Demissie, Fassil. (2012). The Point of Pointed Architecture: Its Revival in Europe and its Appearance in “Colonial” Mosques. In Colonial Architecture and Urbanism in Africa (pp. 103–124). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315259932-14

The presence of the pointed arch on “colonial” mosques in Senegal is what sparked the question of why this particular aesthetic – normally associated with contemporary Gothic Revival churches in Europe – was chosen and what the driving force was behind this choice. A comparison with other European colonial powers and their involvement in building either mosques or other religious edifices in their foreign dominions reveals the complexity of the relationship between colonizer and colonized. It may be that the French administration was mostly responsible for the mosques of Saint-Louis and Dakar but it is equally probable that local masons trained by the French undertook their construction. In the absence of a named architect, the question of who designed the Senegalese colonial mosques remains an unresolved puzzle.