DJENNE

Djenné should not be missed. 

Djenné is one of the oldest and most famous cities of Mali ; about a 1000 years ago it was the center of Sudanese mud architecture. The whole city is almost entirely build of banco. The great Mosque is the most beautiful exemple, but the houses with the wooden shutters and nicely deorated doors are also wonderful.

The city was the centre of commerce in those days – gold, silver, rice, food, slaves, cotton, ivory, salt, and millet was being traded.

Djenné is situated at the river Bani  and a few months of the year the city becomes an island, due to the rainy season.

Djenné is declared a World Heritage by Unesco.  

There is a lot to see and to visit :

• the Market (le Marché) ; preferably visited on a Monday. The city is a meetingpoint for different ethnic groups - tradesmen, herdsmen,farmers, tuaregs ; almost every group offers its specific things. The Peul women, with their beautiful jewellery, mostly sell milk products ; the Dogon women sell the indigo coloured clothing ; the Bozo women sell the fish. And in calebasses and baskets of every size , other things are waiting to be bought : peanuts, beans, peppers, herbs, kola nuts, henna, mintleaves, soap – a mix of colours and all kinds of aromas.
• the Mosque (la Mosquée) ; after the royal palace was destroyed, they built the first mosque there ; it was surrounded by universities and libraries, attractingstudents and professors from the neighbouring countries. After this mosque was burned down, another one was build in the 13th century – it is an impressive building and the largest one in the world that is ever build of mud.  Every year, before the rainy season, the villagers help to roughcast the mosque again. (Non-muslims cannot enter the mosque).
• City Tour : walk through the town and enjoy the mud houses ; if you do not want to stroll the city on your own, you can hire a guide.  In the old part of the town (Al Gasba)  are the most beautiful houses of the merchants and the craftsmen, dating back to the year 1500,  like the old Moroccan palace. Lots of houses were very delapidated, but  Dutch specialistes restored more than 200 houses between 1996 and 2000. They managed to do so with help of the local masons.
• Koranic schools (écoles coraniques) : in the district Youboukaïna you have to visit at least a Koran school ; young boys are being taught to read and write texts of the holy Quran by a marabout (a religious leader). With black ink they write these texts on wooden boards.
• Djenné Djeno ; an archaeological site  about 3 kms. outside Djenné. In the 3rd century BC  a city was build here, but it has been abandoned since 1350. The archaeologists found a lot of things, which are now exhibited in a museum.
• the Cultural Mission ; the museum where the statues, jars, bronze objects, silver, embroidery, pots etc. are exhibited.
• the tombe (le tombeau) of Tapama Djenepo ; a young girl, who has been sacrificed, by burying her alive, to assure the prosperity of the city.