The World Heritage Committee,
- Having examined Documents WHC/21/44.COM/8B and WHC/21/44.COM/INF.8B1,
- Inscribes the Sudanese style mosques in northern Côte d’Ivoire, Côte d’Ivoire, on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (ii) and (iv);
- Takes note of the following provisional Statement of Outstanding Universal Value:
Brief synthesis
The property consists of eight Sudanese-style mosques located in Tengréla, Kouto, Sorobango, Samatiguila, Nambira, Kong and Kaouara. They cover an area of 0.12977 ha in terms of protection perimeter and 2.32934 ha of buffer zone. The Sudanese style mosques are located in the savannah zone, mainly in the administrative regions of Bagoué, Kabadougou, Tchologo, Poro and Gontougo. They are characterized by their Sudanese-style architecture but are unique in their relationship to the land, the environment and the social connexion. Built by skilled builders, sometimes with an external contribution, the mosques are shaped according to the inspiration and creativity of the builders. This is what gives them the general appearance of Sudanese style buildings and the crenelations of the walls depend on the sensitivity and know-how of the builder handling the local building and maintenance materials available. The appearance of the mosques is also influenced by the building cultures of the Gur and Mande cultural areas in which they are located. The same is true for the decorations, the fruit of the imagination and the ability of the builders to create remarkable ostrich egg correspondents on the mosques of Saudi Arabia and the Middle East.
These mosques are of architectural, historical, religious and cultural value and represent a heritage that has survived thanks to the maintenance of their original functionality, the Muslim cult and the maintenance provided by the faithful.
Criterion (ii): The Sudanese-style mosques of northern Côte d'Ivoire are material witnesses to exchanges in the Gur and Mande cultural areas between the 14th and 18th centuries. Indeed, the Mande and Gur cultural areas were places of mixing and important commercial exchanges between the populations of northern Côte d'Ivoire, the Sudanese empire, North Africa (Kairouan, Tunisia) and the Middle East (Mecca, Saudi Arabia, in particular).
From the 15th century onwards, commercial practices were established between Niger and the Gulf of Guinea. Islam continued its progression towards the southern regions of the territory of present-day Côte d'Ivoire. In search of cola and gold, the Mandenka founded stopping places on the roads leading from the banks of the Niger to Kong, spreading Islam. Thus, several roads were created to promote and intensify trans-Saharan trade.
The mosques mark the period of the penetration of Islam in the northern part of Cote d'Ivoire and the cultural mixing between the Senufo and Malinke people.
Criterion (iv): The Sudanese-style mosques of Tengréla, Kouto, Sorobango, Samatiguila, Nambira, Kong and Kaouara are an example of a particular architectural ensemble in terms of style, culture and integrated construction techniques. This architectural ensemble is characteristic of the construction of earthen religious buildings between the 14th and 18th centuries in sub-Saharan Africa, which is no longer done, and of technologies illustrating an endogenous know-how of earthen construction. Initially, the very first mosques blended into the urban landscape, such as Kong, Tengréla, Samatiguila and Kouto, and integrated with other buildings without dominating them with their silhouette, the vertical lines of the minaret alone breaking the monotony of the horizontal lines. With the rise of Islam, the mosque became more important, the whole body of the building rose and its vertical momentum gave it monumental dimensions, which clearly differentiated it from other buildings.
These mosques located in the northern of Côte d'Ivoire have in common squat and low, tapered/slender, rectangular or square, massive pilasters made of wood or block of earth, pyramidal towers with hard lines, crowned with small mitres that surmount the roof as well as minarets in the form of ogives and cone-shaped qibla towers. They are the last representations of Sudanese architecture in sub-Saharan Africa.
Integrity
The series of eight (8) mosques has all the elements necessary to express its outstanding universal value. These mosques, evolving in their urban and rural environment, have all been preserved in their integrity. With the exception of the great mosque of Kong which was destroyed by Samory in 1897 and rebuilt by the communities, the mosques have not been damaged or changed in location. They are also representative of the twenty-one earthen mosques counted.
The mosques are threatened with degradation by urbanization and high population growth. Fortunately, these risks to integrity are minor and reversible. However, to maintain their integrity, communities have developed traditional management systems centred on families and local grassroots committees. National and international heritage and urban planning laws support the preservation of the integrity of mosques. Also, awareness-raising activities of the Ivorian office for cultural heritage help to mitigate the threats.
Authenticity
The eight proposed mosques express their outstanding universal value both by the form of the structures, the use, the building materials, the construction technique, the management and the geographical location. Indeed, they are all located in the northern part of Côte d'Ivoire in the Gur and Mande cultural areas. They have retained their rectangular or square shape. Despite the construction of modern mosques in the areas where the Sudanese style mosques are located, they are still used as places of prayer. However, they have associated socio-cultural uses (weddings, baptisms, places of teaching the Koran and spiritual retreat).
The Sudanese-style mosques of northern Côte d'Ivoire are a testimony to the use and adaptation of materials and construction techniques to a natural and cultural environment. The characteristics of these mosques are maintained through the use of materials (earth and wood) of the natural environment and traditional techniques. The skills related to Sudanese architecture are still held by the communities. The building techniques which are the cob and the adobe are perpetuated by the training of traditional masons.
Protection and management requirements
The current management arrangements (management system and the Executive secretariat for mosques management) are being operationalized and significantly strengthened to address issues related to declining traditional practices and urban development pressures.
There is a set of legal texts consisting of laws, decrees and orders that form the basis for the legal protection of the property, guaranteeing on the one hand the integrity of the boundaries of the property and, on the other hand the implementation of all activities related to the management of the property. Among these legal texts, one can mention the law n°87-806 of July 28, 1987 on the protection of cultural heritage, the law n°98-750 of December 23, 1998 on rural land, the law n° 2003-208 of July 7, 2003 on the transfer and distribution of competences from the State to the local authorities, the law n°2014-425 of July 14, 2014 on the national cultural policy, as well as decree n°88-413 of 20 April 1988 on the classification of historical sites and monuments of the city of Kong, decree n° 2020-121 of 29 January 2020 on the classification of the Sudanese style serial mosques of the north of Côte d'Ivoire on the national cultural heritage List, decree n° 434/MCF/CAB of 15 October 2012 on the registration of cultural property in the national inventory, decree n° 03/MCIAS/CAB of 26. 06.2021 on the organization and functioning of the Executive Secretariat of Management of the Sudanese style mosques of the North of Côte d'Ivoire and the interministerial decree on the organization and functioning of the "management system" of the Sudanese style mosques of the north of Côte d'Ivoire which are directly related to the mosques in series and fix in a precise way the conditions of management, protection, conservation and enhancement, and create the management body. These legal measures, including laws, decrees and orders have been taken for the protection and management of the Sudanese style mosques of Côte d'Ivoire. All restoration work will be carried out in accordance with the provisions of existing normative instruments. Annual action plans will be adopted by the Ivorian office for cultural heritage's Management Council and implemented by the local grassroots management committees under the supervision of the Executive secretariat.
In order to make the above-mentioned legal instruments effective, the State of Côte d'Ivoire has opted for a management system in consultation with all the stakeholders. The implementation of this management system will be based on the close collaboration between the State institutions and specifically on the Executive secretariat and the populations (the communities) for a co-management of the property. This management system will function as follows: the nominated property will be managed at the policy level by the Executive secretariat for the Management of Mosques in collaboration with the regional directorates in charge of culture in the areas where the mosques are located. These structures are the State bodies in charge of implementing the State's cultural policy. This body is created by the provisions of Decree No. 2012-552 of June 13, 2012 on the creation, powers, organization and operation of the Ivorian office for cultural heritage.
At the level of each mosque, there is a local committee of basic management. Its compass is the roadmap and guidelines developed by the Ivorian office for cultural heritage, however, based on its rules of procedure. This committee is largely composed of indigenous communities, supported by some local elected officials. The particularity of this management system is that it is based on endogenous management mechanisms set up by members of the Muslim community in the localities concerned. These endogenous management mechanisms have been formalized into eight (8) local basic management committees by the Ivorian Cultural Heritage Office.
The management system will be evaluated every two years. The monitoring of this management system will be based on a perfect synergy of the interventions of the different stakeholders under the control and coordination of the Executive secretariat for the management of mosques.
The involvement of the communities in the management creates the conditions for a better distribution of the benefits related to the management of the mosques, and the know-how and practices related to earthen architecture are thus more easily transmitted to the new generation. The outstanding universal value of the Sudanese-style serial mosques is better safeguarded.
Furthermore, it is essential to develop a roadmap with actions and a timeframe in which traditional conservation practices will be sufficiently robust.
Another concern is the need to complete conservation plans for each mosque based on its current state of conservation and necessary interventions.
- Recommends the State Party, with the advice of ICOMOS and the World Heritage Centre, if requested, to:
- Consider enlarging the boundaries for each component part, to encompass the full extent of communal and associated functional spaces around each mosque, through a minor boundary modification process,
- Enlarge the buffer zones to encompass the immediate urban setting of the mosques to allow the mosques to be perceived as dominant structures,
- Strengthen the protection for buffer zones, through amending Local Plans and relevant local regulations, particularly in relation to development that is currently permitted,
- Operationalise the proposed management system and augment it to encompass capacity building for local masons,
- Develop a road map with actions and a timeframe within which traditional conservation practices will be robust enough to reverse the current decline,
- Complete conservation plans for each mosque setting out its current state of conservation and the interventions needed,
- Define an overall conservation approach for the whole series that includes proposals for major projects,
- Design as a matter of urgency projects to reverse recent inappropriate interventions at Kouto, Kaouara, Sorobango and Samatiguila mosques;
- Requests the State Party to submit to the World Heritage Centre by 1 December 2022 a report on the implementation of the above-mentioned recommendations for examination by the World Heritage Committee at its 46th session.