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Restoration Nando RESTORATION NANDO ASSOCIATION DOGON EDUCATION IN COLLABORATION WITH FOUNDATION DOGON EDUCATION (SDO) DECEMBER 2013 RESTORATION NANDO Introduction History of Nando The Mosque and Islam in Nando Project description, restoring the village The history of Pah Lessons learned, the approach of Nando Starting with water, school and improving quality of the daily situation Current state of the Village of Nando The first renovation projects and results Action plan and implementation Project planning and organization tasks Results of the project Background information Committee of recommendation Bibliography Colofon Nando lies about 50 kilometers south east of Mopti INTRODUCTION The Cliff of Bandiagara (Land of the Dogons) was inscribed on the List of World Heritage properties in 1989. It was inscribed as a cultural and natural site on the basis of criteria V and VII, and is one of the largest mixed sites inscribed in the World Heritage List of UNESCO. It extends over 4,000 km2 and, as such, is an area where around 500.000 people are living in 289 villages. Nando is one of these villages. Among them, Nando holds a special status due to the unique mosque which lies in the centre of the village. The land of the Dogon lies south of the river Niger not far from Mopti and Djenne. The region is composed of three zones: the plateau, the cliffs and the lower plains. The plateau rises like an immense fortress to a height of approx- imately 300 metres above surrounding plains. It is delimited by the Bandiagara escarpment, a cliff of more than 200 km long, which runs from southwest to northeast. Successive waves of immi- gration have populated the area. Over the ages peoples from different horizons had to share, not often without harm or conflicts, the same territory. Today the originality of Dogon country resides in The Cliff of Bandiagara its ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversi- ty. A homogeneous Dogon society does not exist. Like so many other farming societies, the Dogon have no centralized power structure. Political and religious authority belong to the village elders. In line with its diversity, each region of the Dogon land has its own traditions. Vari- ants in belief, myth and history abound. In the Pinari, on the plateau near Mopti, are several unique villages like Pah, Niongono, Nombori and Nando which are especially mentioned on the Unesco list for their extraordinary quality. The village of Nando is well known for its 600 year old mosque, that presents a very different appropriation of the well known West-African traditional mosque architecture, exhibited in the more com- monly known Great Mosque of Djenne. In the last 15 years lot of fieldwork has In 2009 we started in small steps with structure in charge of the protection and been done in the village of Pah, but this the local community to restore some conservation of the Unesco site. The could not prevent the exodus of the buildings, the gate and the mosque. The project will be supported in the future village and the almost complete collapse experience we derived from this work by several partners listed in the credits. of the monument. The village of Nando and process forms the basis of this pro- The start of the project is a response to is also threatened by a similar prospect. ject proposal. the concerns expressed by the leaders of For this reason the Foundation Dogon the village of Nando and the inhabitants Education has become a partner of the The project presented in this document who are very eager to continue their village for preventing this. Since 2007 has been prepared by the Foundation life in the village to maintain the unique the Foundation has worked on improv- Dogon Education in collaboration with mosque of Nando, and their knowledge ing the water situation by making wells LEVS architects Amsterdam, The NAi (Ar- of the fast decline of the nearby village and a pump installation in cooperation chitectural Institute of the Netherlands) Pah. with the village and by building schools and the Mission Culturelle de Bandi- in the nearby villages Pah and Balaguina. agara, the decentralised government HISTORY OF NANDO The village of Nando lies nestled in a and 450 inhabitants. Overall the area is skimming has dissipated due to the rain small valley. Hidden in the Pinari it is sur- almost 2.5 ha. The area for agriculture is but also because of the endurance of rounded by a natural caved stone wall at the edge of the village along the road bad maintenance due the lack of water and 7 small gates. The village consists to the other neighbouring villages. The in the period after the harvest for repair- of 3 neighbourhoods and there are still houses in the Pinari and in Nando are ing the houses. The lack of maintenance almost 100 houses, many granaries and basically built with natural caves stone is also caused by the overall difficult of course the beautiful mosque in the walls and wooden roofs that are plas- living situation in the Sahel zone which centre of the village. Some houses have tered with mud. The mud is necessary makes the young men search for jobs in been abandoned by the families but the for the total strength of the construction other areas after the harvest period. major part of the village is still occu- and to keep it stable and protected. pied. The villages consist of 75 families Today, on most of the houses, this mud THE MOSQUE AND ISLAM IN NANDO Although its spread goes back to the The mosque of Nando is different from 11th century, Islam was more or less any other of its kind. It is believed it was limited to urban centres such as Djenne, built in the 12th century. Or at least its Dia, Timbuktu and Gao. It was the faith foundation predates the building of the of the elite in power and of the trading Djenne and Timbuktu mosques. In those community. It is only after a series of early days the Bandiagara escarpment holy wars in the 19th century that Islam was inhabited by populations known definitely took root in rural zones and as « Tellem ». Today, many questions in Dogon country. Most villages have a remain unanswered as to the circum- mosque. Today’s dynamism of traditio- stances of its construction. Legends nal mud constructions manifests itself, give various accounts of its origin. One among others, in a variety of mosques story goes that it fell from the skies and that show stylistic features that are another mentions a giant who built the characteristic for Dogon architecture. mosque within a week. Still another Mosques with façades composed of legend has it that in those ancient times niches with checkerboard and trian- the region was often prey to violence. gular patterns became a familiar sight. One day Nando was left abandoned until The mosque of Kani Kombole is a good a `marabout` and his students took up example. It is situated at the foot of the residence there and built the mosque. escarpment. There is ample space for With the return of peace, the villagers building. The mosque is wide and its four came back and drove the marabous sides are decorated with colonnades and away but they kept the mosque. What niches. This is a clear reference to the all these stories have in common is the façade of the Ginna namely, the traditio- sudden appearance of a mosque that nal house of the extended family. precedes the spread of the Muslim faith in the region. It looks as though it came as a reve- by multi¬ple head pinnacles. A low wall lation. In the 12th century, the only of similar style, with arched entranc- town nearby already converted to Islam es and pointed pinnacles, surrounds was Dia on the Diaka (arm of the Niger the build¬ing. After many seasonal river). The mosque of Nando is built out mud-plastering (skimming), the mosque of earth, wood and stone. The latter has taken up the appearance of an is the favourite building material in edifice that has un¬dergone Mus¬lim Dogon country. Whereas villages along and animist influences. Its in¬ner walls the river are made of mud, houses and are Is¬lamic in design and are decorated mosques on the plateau and in the cliff with themes from the Koran. One can area combine stone with earth. And yet see a pair of scales that are believed to the mosque of Nando is unique by its be weighing the souls of the dead so as architecture. Pilasters are incorporated to determine who will go to heaven or into all four sides of the façade and the hell. edges of its roof terrace are surmounted east facade 2008 the Mosque seen from the north south east facade Plan of the Mosque (Lauber, Wolfgang, Architektur der Dogon) without the women area at the north Details of the facades of the Mosque animist details gutter aproach from the third quarter Section of the Mosque (Lauber, Wolfgang, Architektur der Dogon) again without the womens area inside the Mosque, no signs of water insde 2008 PROJECT DESCRIPTION, RESTORING THE VILLAGE THE HISTORY OF PAH For the understanding of the project we the foot of the hill and abandoned their collected photographical documentation houses and the mosque. Today we can and information from around 2000 and see the result of not maintaining the today, July 2012. The village of Pah was houses for 10 year: the entire village is beautifully documented by a German collapsed. Interviewing the inhabitants group of architects and the Mission and the chief of the village this year Culturelle in Bandiagara.
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