CLASS NOTES: TOPIC 5

AFRICAN ARCHITECTURE
Lecture by Professor Olufemi Richards

a. Definition of architecture
b. A review of architecture around the world
c. Subtractive architecture from Ethiopia
d. Additive architecture from Zimbabwe
e. Africa's contribution to building techniques

Architecture: Definition

When Prof. Richards was conducting his graduate studies at Northwestern University in 1967, he was assigned readings in a course on Building Techniques from the Egyptians to the Present. In the West, the authoritative survey of world architecture was offered by Banister Fletcher, A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method, 17th ed. (New York: Scribner, 1961). Out of some 1,368 pages, Fletcher devoted only 12 pages in his massive work to African architecture. When Prof. Richards complained, he was referred to a work by Nikolaus Pevsner, An Outline of European Architecture, 7th ed. (Harmondsworth, Middlesex; Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1968):

"A bicycle shed is a building. Lincoln Cathedral is a piece of architecture. Nearly anything that encloses space on a scale sufficient for a human to move in is a building. The term architecture applies solely to buildings designed with a view to aesthetic appeal."

This faulty conception is what Prof. Richards calls a pan definition of architecture

Such a pan definition of architecture (which attempts to apply to all forms) is restrictive and impreessionistic

Adhering to Pevsner's definition we have architecture in Europe, but only buildings in Africa. Such a narrow, ethnocentric definition of architecture denies the existence of African architecture. On the other hand, there is irony in the fact that the Washington monument offers a striking example of African architectural retention in the United States.

Prof. Richards contrasts this pan definition of architecture with a macro or local definition of architecture.

Example: Among the Dogon people of Mali, architecture is the history of a people written in stone

According to the Dogon, architecture should

a. Respond to climate
b. Utilize local materials
c. Incorporate existing technology
d. Serve local and cultural needs

Example: among the Dogon people,

a. Mud has high thermal insulating properties (providing for comfortable temperatures inside structures)
b. Mud is local and abundant material (blends with environment); mud is used in conjunction with thatch, which when used as a roofing material helps to drain rain water away from mud
c. Mud is found in massive as well as small structures (possesses tensile and compressive strength)
d. Following Dogon customs regarding privacy, entrances are left open (no locked doors)

[Other comparative examples of local architecture would be the adobe houses of the Hopi people or the igloos of Eskimos]

The layout of a Dogon village is designed to look like the human body

a. The head is where the elders reside
b. The body is where families reside
c. The arms are where single daughters reside
d. The legs are where single sons reside

 

Subtractive Architecture

Example: Stele at Axum under King Azania

Ancient kingdom of Axum, located in what is now Ethiopia
Importance of Axum during the first century, AD

a. Strategic location along trade routes (Arabia to the East, Nubia to the West)
b. Highly literate society (the Ge'ez language was writtten and spoken)
c. Perfected hillside terracing for agriculture (terraces like stepped pyramids)
d. Mastered stone-cutting techniques and building with dry stone without mortar (anathyrosis)

Stele at Axum

a. Stereobate (terracing)
b. Blind doors and windows
c. Band / belt courses (architectural molding that wraps around building)

How were stele used?

a. Served as historical record
b. Believed to embody spirit of the dead
c. Regarded as an accomplishment of Azania, King of Axum

Axumites practiced Monophysite Christianity

Established around 300 AD, Ethiopian Christianity (which became a state religion) was slightly different from its Greek origins. Under the influence of Egyptian Christians, the Axumites believed that Christ had a single rather than a double nature (man and god): this is called Monophysite (mono=single, physis=nature) Christianity and was considered heretical in the European churches.

Fate of Axum

a. Lost economic importance (trade routes disappeared)
b. Attacks from outside
c. Replaced by the Zagwe dynasty

Zagwe Dynasty under King Lalibela

Lalibela moved capital from Axum to Rhoa and renamed it Lalibela

Built eleven churches out of rock formations, 1190-1222 AD

a. How rocks were discovered

Observance of crop marks

b. How churches were carved
c. Designs of churches

Some churches built in the form of a Greek or Latin cross; others built in the form of a basilica. For example, St. George was built on a cross plan; the Church of the Redeemer has the shape of a basilica

d. Names of other churches

1. Beta Golgotha
2. Beta Gabriel
3. Beta Libanos
4. Beta Emanuel
5. Beta Mekurios
6. Beta Mariam

("Beta" means "house of")

e. Materials

Carved from andisite tufa (volcanic rock)

f. Architectural features

Stereobate

g. Why built?

1. A New Jerusalem (Jerusalem had been destroyed in 1187 by Saladin's army)
2. Center for Christian pilgrims
3. Safe sanctuary for Christians

Of the 11 churches, 4 are monolithic and free-standing; 7 are attached to mother rock at points other than the base

Additive Architecture

Architectural Ruins of Great Zimbabwe

See Roger Summers, "City of Black Gold," in Vanished Civilizations of the Ancient World, ed. Edward Bacon, (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1963), 35-54

The name Zimbabwe comes from the Shona people of the region. Depending on the source, it derives from either the Shona phrase, dzimba dza mabwe ("houses of stone") or the slightly different term, dzimba woye ("venerated houses").

16th-century references

The architectural ruins of Zimbabwe were brought to the attention of the outside world in the 16th century by Joas de Barros and Duarte Barbosa

Described as stone houses built for kings

19th-century references

Alexander Merensky, 1867 (German missionary who visited Zimbabwe)
Karl Mauch, 1871-72 (German geologist and friend of Merensky who also visited). Mauch

1. Provided a detailed floor plan of monuments
2. Described building techniques
3. Described religious activities conducted around monument

Consisting of some 15,000 tons of rock, Zimbabwe today is characterized by

1. Conical towers
2. Elliptical buildings
3. Valley ruins (resulting from destruction by Europeans seeking gold)

Stone building technique which uses no mortar is called anathyrosis.

First excavations were made by J. Theodore Bent in 1891

Work was commissioned by the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS)
Published findings in 1892 in a book entitled The Ruined Cities of Mashonaland
Described architecture and religious activities

Karl Mauch claimed that Zimbabwe could not have been constructed by black Africans
J. Theodore Bent hypothesized that Zimbabwe was built by the Phonecians or the Sabeans
Bent's hypothesis was promoted by William Neal and Richard Hall in 1901
The claim that biblical Hamites created Zimbabwe was also hypothesized
Conclusion: anything of scientific or creative import could only have been produced by whites

Not all European scholars agreed
Two fundamentally different schools of thought on the origins of Zimbabwe subsequently emerged:

a. School of independent development (David Randall-MacIver and BAAS)
b. Diffusionist school

Randall-MacIver noted that pottery found at Zimbabwe was similar to that made by the Shona people
Shona people were also excellent stone-cutters
Religious activities at Zimbabwe had been conducted in the Shona language

Reference: David Randall-MacIver, Mediæval Rhodesia (London; New York: 1906)

Randall-MacIver's findings were rejected by the diffusionist school

Gertrude Caton-Thompson's findings in 1929 supported those of Randall-MacIver

Reference: Gertrude Caton-Thompson, The Zimbabwe Culture: Ruins and Reactions (London, 1931)

Employing radio-carbon dating techniques, Roger Summers demonstrated in 1955 that Zimbabwe had been constructed around 1440 AD, thus putting to rest mythical tales concerning Solomonic, Phonecian, Hamitic, and other ancient origins

Reference: Roger Summers, Inyanga; Prehistoric Settlements in Southern Rhodesia (Cambridge [Eng.]: 1958).

Who built Zimbabwe?: the Shona people

Use of Trusses in African Architecture

To reinforce buildings, buttresses were used in Europe

As noted by Dutch geographer Olfert Dapper, trusses were in use in palace of the Oba (King) of the Kingdom of Benin in 1668.