History of Ethiopian Architecture

1. The walled city
Harar
Prepared by Ephrem N.

2. Islamic architecture in Ethiopia
• In Ethiopia Islamic architecture has at least two aspects
1. It can be studied as a general Oriental style with
ornamental design which influenced the ornamentation
of Medieval Christian architecture and art.
Some of the geometrical ornaments carved in rock and
wood in Ethiopian churches during the medieval period
can hardly be distinguished from the corresponding
Islamic designs.
2. It can also be studied as the architecture relevant for
those geographical areas, a good example is Harar
which was strongly connected with the Islamic culture.

4. Islamic architecture in Ethiopia
Design rules of Islam
• The making of any likeness of any creature was
forbidden
• Islamic art seeks for fineness of line, for color harmony,
and above all design.

5. • Islamic Art and Architecture derived very largely
from the countries that were conquered early in
the outreach of the new religion.
• It should be remembered that the making of any
likeness of any creature was forbidden, so that
painting and sculpture were cut off at the source.
• Oriental art depicts an ideal or fairy-like world of
the imagination. Conventional concepts of
perspective are not accepted … Islamic Art seeks
fineness of line, for colour harmony, and above
all, design.
Design rules of Islam

7. • Unlike the great cultural centers of the Christian highlands,
Harar’s heritage is almost entirely Muslim and Oriental
• With its ninety mosques and shrines, Harar is considered
to be the fourth most sacred centre of the Islamic
world…after Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.
• The chief building within the walls was the great mosque,
known as Al-Jami.
Religion

8. Al-Jami mosque

10. • It was probably founded by a colony from Hadramaut in
south Arabia during the 9th c AD, by a Semitic-speaking
people
• It was the center of Muslim rulers such as Ahmed Gragn
from 1520-1577.
• The surrounding city wall (jegol) was originally built by Nur
ibn al-Wazir, a nephew of Ahmed Gragn, and is thus from
the 16th century.
The walled city - Harar

11. Influences…
For centuries it has served as a bridgehead for the
entry of Islamic ideas in to Africa from the nearby
Arabian peninsula.
Harar

12. • The reported seat of Muslim learning
• A walled city of stone houses.
• Its own coinage and its own language
• Its permanent settlement
• Before the recent rise of Addis Ababa and
Nairobi, Harar was the only city worthy of the title.
The city characters

13. The city

14. The city

15. • The city rests With in 48 hectares
• The circumference of the wall is 3348 meters
• With five main traditional gates Harar gate, Buda
gate, Senga gate, Erer gate, Felana gate;
demarcate the administrative as well as the socio-
zones of the old city.
• The subsequent integration of Harar into the
greater Ethiopian realm led to the construction, in
the twentieth century, of two additional gates.
The city wall

16. The city wall and its gates

17. The city wall

19. • A walled Islamic city with five gates divided in to five
quarters.
• The quarters were initiated for the purpose of mobilizing the
local people, and eventually they began to serve as units of
administration and tax collection.
• The quarters are apparently headed by five Malaks
• Each Malak also served as a one-way mediator between the
Emir and the people.
• Malaks transmitted rules and orders from “above to below’’
they were direct appointees of a reigning Emir.
Settlement

21. • Each quarter is divided in to a number of Toyach (singular.
Toya or neighborhood) which are again divided in to a
number of Lasims.
• A Lasim consists of a number of families of adjacent houses
within a radius of a given mosque.
• Lasims form the lower strata in the structure of the Emirate.
Their duty was to convey order and other message they
receive from malaks properly to members of their respective
Lasim.
…continued

23. Emir
Malaks
Toyach /singular Toya/
Lasim

25. • Lasims reflect the strong sprit of the community,
some of the physical features we see are…
• The back to back support of houses, where rooms belonging
to one house are supported by the walls of the neighboring
house
• The narrow lanes through which life flows from the houses
and then to gathering places such as Mosque or the near
open market at the junction of the lanes.
• The existence of a number of mosques and shrines in every
neighborhood.
Lasims

26. Back to back support of houses

27. Narrow lanes between houses

30. The existence of a number of
mosques and shrines

32. The Harar house

33. • An important big building
which was constructed at
the end of 19th c has been
associated with name of the
famous French poet, Arthur
Rimbaud, who lived in
Harar 10 years b/n (1881-
1891).
• Now it serves as a center of
documentation for
exhibitions
The Harar house

35. Ras Mekenen’s palace

37. Interventions