Contemporary structures have made irretrievable breaches in the original parcelling and obviously exceed the scale of the traditional buildings. However, as indicated at the time of inscription of the property, rampant urbanization which is rife in Timbuktu, as in Djenne, is particularly threatening to the architecture, and the large public squares and markets. The vestiges of urban fabric are essential for their context.

The three mosques and the sixteen mausoleums comprising the property are a cliché of the former great city of Timbuktu that, in the 16th century, numbered 100,000 inhabitants. Their environment has now become very vulnerable under the impact of irreversible change. The mosques are exceptional examples of earthen architecture and of traditional maintenance techniques, which continue to the present time.Ĭriterion (ii): The mosques and holy places of Timbuktu have played an essential role in the spread of Islam in Africa at an early period.Ĭriterion (iv): The three great mosques of Timbuktu, restored by the Qadi Al Aqib in the 16th century, bear witness to the golden age of the intellectual and spiritual capital at the end of the Askia dynasty.Ĭriterion (v): The three mosques and mausoleums are outstanding witnesses to the urban establishment of Timbuktu, its important role of commercial, spiritual and cultural centre on the southern trans-Saharan trading route, and its traditional characteristic construction techniques. The three big Mosques of Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia, sixteen mausoleums and holy public places, still bear witness to this prestigious past. The mosque was restored in 1577-1578 by the Imam Al Aqib. The Sidi Yahia Mosque, to the south of the Sankore Mosque, was built around 1400 by the marabout Sheik El Moktar Hamalla in anticipation of a holy man who appeared forty years later in the person of Cherif Sidi Yahia, who was then chosen as Imam. He had the sanctuary demolished and rebuilt according to the dimensions of the Kaaba of the Mecca.

The central minaret dominates the city and is one of the most visible landmarks of the urban landscape of Timbuktu.īuilt in the 14th century, the Sankore Mosque was, like the Djingareyber Mosque, restored by the Imam Al Aqib between 15. The Djingareyber Mosque, the initial construction of which dates back to Sultan Kankan Moussa, returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, was rebuilt and enlarged between 15 by the Imam Al Aqib, the Qadi of Timbuktu, who added all the southern part and the wall surrounding the cemetery located to the west. It was also a crossroads and an important market place where the trading of manuscripts was negotiated, and salt from Teghaza in the north, gold was sold, and cattle and grain from the south. It was an important centre for the diffusion of Islamic culture with the University of Sankore, with 180 Koranic schools and 25,000 students.

Located at the gateway to the Sahara desert, within the confines of the fertile zone of the Sudan and in an exceptionally propitious site near to the river, Timbuktu is one of the cities of Africa whose name is the most heavily charged with history.įounded in the 5th century, the economic and cultural apogee of Timbuktu came about during the15th and 16th centuries. Outstanding Universal Value Brief synthesis

Timbuktu manuscripts unesco