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Architecture 170A |
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Napata Meroe Naga Aksum Lalibala Tombouctou Kilwa Great Zimbabwe |
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Sub-Saharan Africa I. Ancient architecture of the Upper Nile: Kings of Kush (modern Sudan) reigned over Egypt as 25th dynasty (724-660 BCE). Kushite experimentation with Egyptian architectural and religious paradigms endures for a millenium. Pharoahs Pinakhy and Tahrqua build Amon Temple, Napata, c 700 BCE, in the shadow of Jebel Barkal (sacred mountain). Same site features painted temple sanctuaries and tombs. Pyramidal Royal tombs, Meroe include pylon-fronted pyramid of Kandake (Queen) Amanishakheto, first century BCE. Distinctively Kushite iconography of Apedemek Temple, Naga, first century CE. Roman influence upon Kiosk, Naga, third century CE. II. Secular and sacred monuments in Ethiopia: Representations in stone of local traditions of construction in wood. Stelaes, Aksum, 1st -7th centuries CE, erected to mark royal tombs. Conversion of Aksumite King Ezana to Christianity in 333 CE. Ethiopian self-image as inheiritors of Jewish traditions seen in monolithic churches carved from the living rock in Lalibala, built during the Zagwe dynasty (1137-1270) to recreate the sacred topography of Jerusalem. These include Beta Giyorgis (St. George), Greek-cross planned church designed to be seen from above. III. Islamic architecture: importance of trade in enfolding edges of Islamic world into global trade networks. DjinguerÈ Mosque, Timbouctou (Mali), begun 1324-27 by Emperor Mansa Musa. Combination of local (earth or adobe) and imported (limestone arches) construction techniques. Arab and Indian trading links with Swahili cities on the East African coast. Great Mosque, Kilwa (Tanzania), 13th and 15th centuries. No courtyard; local materials (dried coral) married to imported elements (domes on squinches). IV. An inland empire.
East African trade based in part upon export of gold by the nonIslamic
culture that built Greater Zimbabwe (Zimbabwe), c 1000-1500.
circular granite enclosures sheltering residential (rammed earth huts) and
probably religious functions (monoliths and conical tower?). largest of
numerous similar sites in the region. Preliterate culture of builders
has led to varying interpretations about original use of these
enclosures. Hesitancy of twentieth-century colonists to admit that this
imposing site was the work of Africans. |
