The Great Mosque at Djenné

The very impressive and stately Great Mosque at Djelme is the product of architectural influences originating in a vast area that ranges from present-day Ghana to North-Afcica, to the Maghreb. As a hypothesis that still needs confirmation by more research, it is now thought that the exuberant plastic and sculptural qualities of the pagan sanctuaries for the ancestor cult in the south were a main source of inspiration for the Dyula Mosque, and this in its tum became one of the most important models for the mosques of the Djenne type.