Grand Mosque of Agadez

The Agadez Mosque is a mud-brick mosque in Agadez, a city on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert in Niger. Its minaret, the tower from which people are called to prayer, is about 27 meters (89 feet) tall, making it the tallest mud-brick structure in the world. The mosque is the main religious center in the central part of Niger and has been a place of worship for centuries.

It was first built in 1515, when the city was taken by the Songhai Empire, and it was restored and partly rebuilt in 1844. Thousands of people come for Friday prayers, and visitors travel long distances to see it. The mosque stands in the historic center of Agadez, which UNESCO lists as a World Heritage Site. The globe shows the mud-brick mosque with its tall minaret.

Built from sun-dried earth

The builders used local clay that was dried in the sun to make bricks. The result is a durable building that has survived the harsh desert for centuries. Wooden beams stick out of the minaret on every side, a feature seen in other West African mud buildings.

The style looks a lot like buildings around Timbuktu, and people believe the Tuareg learned the building techniques from there.

Legend and city life

A legend says the mosque's builder, a scholar named Imam Bakhili, who came from the region of Algeria, finished it in a single night between the evening prayer and dawn.

Over time the tall minaret also served as a watchtower, and it still helps people find their way around the city, like a giant compass.

A city of earth

UNESCO says the old town of Agadez grew in the 15th and 16th centuries, when the Sultanate of Aïr was founded and trans-Saharan trade grew. Nomadic Tuareg groups settled around their former camps, which gave the town its unusual street plan, still followed today.

The historic center has many earthen houses plus palace and religious buildings, including the Grand Mosque and the Sultan's Palace. It is a living town with about 20,000 people, and the traditional sultanate still exists. UNESCO added it to its World Heritage List in 2013.

On the globe

The model shows the mud-brick mosque with its tall minaret bristling with wooden beams.