The walled city

Harar Prepared by Ephrem N.

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.

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.

• 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

• 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

Al-Jami mosque

• 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

Influences… For centuries it has served as a bridgehead for the

entry of Islamic ideas in to Africa from the nearby

Arabian peninsula.

Harar

• 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

The city

The city

• 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

The city wall and its gates

The city wall

• 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

• 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

Emir

Malaks

Toyach /singular Toya/

Lasim

• 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

Back to back support of houses

Narrow lanes between houses

The existence of a number of

mosques and shrines

The Harar house

• 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

Ras Mekenen’s palace

Interventions