Larabanga Mosque
Larabanga Mosque
- The Larabanga Musjid (Arabic: مسجد لارابانجا, romanized: Musjid Lārābānjā) is a Musjid built in the Sudanese architectural style in the village of Larabanga, Ghana. It is the oldest Musjid in the country and one of the oldest in West Africa, often called the “Makkah of West Africa.” Since it was built in 1421, it has been restored many times. The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has helped a lot with its restoration and lists it as one of the 100 Most Endangered Sites. These restoration efforts have helped revive the knowledge of maintaining adobe structures.
- The Musjid has an old Quran that locals believe was a heavenly gift given to Yidan Barimah Bramah, the Imam at the time, in 1650 because of his prayers. The Musjid is built with West African adobe and has two tall, pyramid-shaped towers. One tower, the mihrab, faces Makkah and forms the eastern facade, while the other is a minaret in the northeast corner. There are twelve bulbous structures around the Musjid, supported by timber elements.
- The Musjid is in the Islamic town of Larabanga, near Damongo in the West Gonja District of the Savannah Region of Ghana. The town is about 15 kilometers north of Damongo and 4 kilometers south of the Mole National Park entrance.
- According to legend, in 1421, an Islamic trader named Ayuba had a dream near a “Mystic Stone” that instructed him to build a Musjid. When he woke up, he found that the foundations were already there, so he continued building the Musjid until it was finished. It’s believed that Ayuba left instructions to be buried close to the Musjid and that a baobab tree would grow on his grave. The baobab tree next to the Musjid today is said to mark Ayuba’s grave. The people of Larabanga use the leaves and stem of this baobab tree for healing.
- Unlike Musjids in urban areas of West Africa, the Larabanga Musjid is small. Rural Musjids like Larabanga’s were usually designed by a single religious leader and based on styles seen elsewhere, such as the Great Musjid of Djenné. To resemble these other styles, the Larabanga Musjid had to use large buttresses to make up for the poorer quality of building materials. Larabanga is one of eight ancient and highly revered Musjids in Ghana and is also the oldest.
- In the 1970s, sand and cement were applied to the Musjid’s exterior to protect it from wind and rain. However, this caused damage because moisture got trapped in the adobe walls, leading to deterioration and termite infestations in the wooden supports. This resulted in part of the Musjid collapsing, and the repair work caused some distortions in the structure and exterior.