1.
Preservation of Urban and
Architectural Heritage of Harar,
Ethiopia
Hisham Mortada, Ph.D., AIA
Dept of Architecture
King Abdul Aziz University
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

2.
CONCEPT OF HERITAGE
Heritage is the memory of
nation, including its events,
which have been
historically affected by
economic, social, cultural,
spatial, and constructional
conditions that form the
cultural elements of the
man and civilization
including changes.It

3.
CONCEPT OF HERITAGE
Heritage could be divided into two
types:
Immaterial heritage: It is
everything that is linked to community
intellectual, spiritual and social life,
and has no material base. Examples
of this heritage are poetry, singing,
music, dialects, names and terms of
significance, and other codes of
identity.
Material heritage: It is everything
linked to community life and has

4.
CONCEPT OF HERITAGE
PRESERVATION
•The concept of preserving and
restoring heritage element is
determined by the acts of
protecting it as artistic works and
historic witnesses.
•Its maintenance must be
subject to the principles and
standards set up by the
UNESCO, either repair or
employment within the
surrounded urban fabric.

5.
PRESERVATION OF HERITAGE
SITES
•Aim: To develop and protect the heritage areas, and
working working on their survival and confirmation of their
character with the social and cultural personality of the
community.
•Methodologies:
•Rehabilitation
•Restoration
•Conservation
•Re-utilization
•Re-construction
•Maintenance

6.
HARAR: GEOGRAPHY

7.
HARAR: HISTORY
•One of the largest
historical cities in Africa,
dating back to the 10th
century AD.
•The oldest Islamic city in
Africa, and considered as
the fourth holiest city in
Islam, based on the fact of
King Negus of Abyssinia
welcomed and protected
the followers of Prophet
Mohamed during their
migration to Abyssinia.

8.
HARAR: URBAN FEATURES
•The way the city planned
and developed, and the styles
of its mosques, shrines and
traditional dwellings indicate
Harar’s special traditional
Islamic heritage and way of
life, which is still preserved
and practiced.
•Its urban pattern and
architecture reflect the impact
of Islamic culture and African
traditions, which together give
the city a distinct character.
•UNISCO has enlisted Harar

9.
•Jugol, the heart of Harar, is a cultural product that
reflects people’s affirmation to their religious identity.
•The International Council of Monuments and Sites
(ICOMOS) has reported several changes that threaten the
architectural character of Harar.
HARAR: URBAN FEATURES
Jugol, organic urban
form
Harar City

10.
HARAR: URBAN FEATURES
City wall and gates

11.
HARAR: URBAN FEATURES
Narrow zigzagged allies and limited open spaces

12.
HARAR: URBAN FEATURES
Commercial activities at major and minor streets and gates

13.
HARAR: URBAN FEATURES
Italian Market

14.
Mosques are the historical heart
of Harar. Out of the 99 mosques,
82 are inside Jugol.
HARAR: ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES

15.
a. Traditional Mosque: It consists
of two prayer spaces and a yard
divided into two parts, one is a
transition zone at the entrance to
the mosque, and the other is for
prayers when the indoor is
crowded.
•A small garden may exist for the
cultivation of treatment plants.
•Minarets vary in shape.
HARAR: ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES
Mahad Sai Mosque, 18th

16.
b. Public Mosque: It is for Friday prayers. Five of them
are inside Jugol, each within a neighborhood. Slightly
different from the traditional as the area of prayer is larger.
HARAR: ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES

17.
c. Small Mosque: It contains one or more tombs, and has
a shrine of one or more of the imams (prayer leaders),
muezzins (prayer callers), or a person believed to be
"Awlia" or saints. The mosque is revived every year in
memory or celebrations.
HARAR: ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
Small mosque: Sayid Abrahim Ahmed Mosque, Harar

18.
Houses
There are 5115 houses within
Jugol, the bulk of the
architectural heritage of Harar.
a. The Traditional House
A rectangle containing three
rooms on the ground floor and
a room upstairs in addition to
the services area (bathrooms
and kitchen) that are open
toward the patio, the living
room of the house.
HARAR: ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES
Mahdi Adous’s house, a
traditional house

19.
b. Indian House
•Indian traders brought this
style in 1887.
•Most of these houses were
built in the highest areas of
Harar, dominating the city
skyline. Currently, there are
about 12 houses of this
type.
•A house of this type
consists of a simple rectangle
of two floors characterized by
a covered wooden porch in
the first floor facing the
HARAR: ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES
Rimbaud house, early twentieth century

20.
HARAR: ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES
Ras Tafari’s house, an example of Indian house

21.
HARAR: ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES
Ras Tafari’s house

22.
c. Mixed House
•It is the popular type.
•It combines traditional housing with later
additions of the Indian style on the first or
second floor.
•Access to the added rooms is through a
wooden corridor opens to the courtyard or street.
•The upper floor has the same pattern of
distribution of rooms that are accessed via an
external wooden corridor through a wooden
ladder.
•The mixed house does not have the same
degree of architectural quality of the original
house.
HARAR: ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES

23.
HARAR: ARCHITECTURAL
FEATURES
Khadija Ahmed’s house, an example of
mixed house type

24.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Current
statusPopulation
Soci
al
Econom
ic
Environment
al
Rapid growth, high population density (700 inhabitant per hectare), lack of
infrastructure.
Serious refuse problems.
Poor management of solid and waste water.
Polluted rivers. Littered & deteriorated public spaces. Health problems.
Hararis, Oromos and the Ahmarinyas
Neighborhood communities (afochas) - maintains social cohesion.
Insufficient income for upkeep
Critical state of conservation due to lack of financial resources.
Organization
al
Seven elected administrative urban units (kebeles).

25.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
The Urban
Structure
Elliptic form, 1600 by 800 m.
Rampant, five historic gates, and a
recent one.
Inner city had no significant
change.
2 Distinct poles:
Faras Magala
Gidir Magala
The triangle constitutes the city
center.
Physical Properties

26.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Street
structure:The east-west street:
Is the only straight street
Links Jugol to the west
Allowed automobiles into the center,
Created new activities.
Reinforced Faras Magala square
It is incorrectly believed that it reinforced
city’s bi-polarity.
Physical Properties

27.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Main streets run from gates toward
the two centers.
A complex network of secondary
streets, alleys, an dead end streets
that form irregular and spontaneous
urban tissue cover the rest of the city.
Approximately one third of the houses
are served by dead end streets,
distancing the houses from main
streets and public realm.
Accessibility is weak, Lack of access
roads.
Street
structure:
Physical Properties

28.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Neighborhoods
:
Jugol is divided into 5 neighborhoods.
Each is subdivided into smaller clusters,
grouped around a mosque.
They have similar morphology.
The gates and main streets are the only
items that distinguish each of the
neighborhoods.
The new market is at the intersection
point of 4 of the neighborhoods,
demonstrating its central role within the
city.
Physical Properties

29.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
A concentration of commercial activities
around the poles and the straight
street.
The south-eastern zone is relatively
deprived of commercial activities.
Gaps in the grid of the secondary
markets.
The center is moving towards west.
the historical markets (markets of the
entries and the market Gidir Magala)
are declining, as two third of the shops
are closing down.
Land Uses, Commercial
Physical Properties

30.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Challenges:
Isolation:
Jugol location at the eastern most
part of Harar as well as the
surrounding rampant contributed to
it’s isolation.

31.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Challenges:
Accessibility
Jugol is only connected to the rest of
Harar via one street.

32.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Challenges:
Poverty
Prosperous residents moved away,.
Poor people moved in.
Together contributed to Jugol’s poverty.

33.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Challenges:
Decline
Jugol isolation and poor accessibility
discourages investment in the area.
Prosperous residents moved away,
poor people moved in.
The outcome:
Jugol is in danger of declination.

34.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Existing locations
Land uses:
Administrative

35.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Suitable
locations
Locations with similar
accessibility values.
Land uses:
Administrative

36.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Existing locations
Land uses:
Commercial

37.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Suitable locations for
global commercial
activities.
Land uses:
Commercial

38.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Suitable locations for local
commercial activities
1580m
Land uses:
Commercial

39.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Existing educational
facilities (no distinction
between public and
private facilities),
concentrated at the
north-eastern quarter.
Land uses:
Educational

40.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Suitable locations
Land uses:
Educational

41.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Local scale:

42.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Local Scale - Proposed:

43.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Local Scale - Proposed:

44.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Menen House

45.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Ground floor - Existing

46.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
Ground floor - Proposed

47.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
First floor - Existing

48.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE
First floor – Proposal (1)

49.
CONSERVATION OF JUGOL
HERITAGE

50.
Thank you for listening!