Architecture of Sudan

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Part of a series on the
Culture of Sudan
Nubian pyramids of Meroë

The architecture of Sudan mirrors the

ethnic and cultural diversity of the country and its historical periods. The lifestyles and material culture expressed in human settlements, their architecture and economic activities have been shaped by different regional and environmental conditions. In its long documented history, Sudan has been a land of changing and diverse forms of human civilization with important influences from foreign cultures.[note 1]

The earliest known architectural structures and urbanization go back to the eighth millennium BCE. Cultural relations with Sudan's northern neighbour of Ancient Egypt, with which it shared long historical periods of mutual influence, brought about both Egyptian as well as distinctly Nubian settlements with temples and pyramids that emerged in the Kingdom of Kush and its last capital of Meroë.

From around 500 CE until circa 1500 CE, Christian kingdoms were thriving in Upper Nubia and southwards along the Nile. They built important cities, known by their flourishing culture, with monasteries, palaces and cities with fortifications and cathedrals, showing influences of Coptic and Byzantine cultures from Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean.[1]

Following the growing influence of

Al Fashir had buildings for administration and personal housing, agriculture and crafts, worship and trade, - including the slave trade.[3]

Located on the southern bank of the

Turkish-Egyptian state, but was largely destroyed by the Mahdi's followers in 1885, who established their capital in Omdurman across the White Nile. In the early 1900s, Khartoum, was rebuilt by the British administration under Lord Kitchener, following standards of a modern European city. In 2021, greater Khartoum is a metropolis with an estimated population of almost six million people, consisting of Khartoum proper, linked by bridges across the Blue and White Nile with the cities of Khartoum North and Omdurman
to the West.

The rural landscape of Sudan is still largely characterized by traditional African architecture, but also has undergone important changes in the development of settlements, infrastructure and corresponding architecture during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Early historical periods

National Museum of Sudan
See also: History of Sudan

Prehistory

By the eighth millennium BCE, people of a

mud-brick villages, where they supplemented hunting and fishing on the Nile with grain harvesting and cattle herding.[4]

In eastern Sudan, the Butana Group appeared around 4000 BCE. Not much is known about settlement patterns, but some sites are almost 10 hectare large, indicating longer occupations. The people of the Butana Group lived in small, round huts. Not many cemeteries are known, but people were most often buried in a contracted position.[5]

Settlements of Ancient Egypt in Nubia

The city of

12th Dynasty).[6] Its fortifications included a moat three meters deep, drawbridges, bastions, buttresses, ramparts, battlements, loopholes, and a catapult. The outer wall included an area between the two walls pierced with a double row of arrow loops, allowing both standing and kneeling archers to fire at the same time. In 1962, an archaeological expedition of Buhen revealed elements like slags from the smelting process that belonged to an ancient copper factory. Buhen also had a temple of Horus, built by Hatshepsut.[7] Walls of this temple, along with architectural elements from the Semna cataract and other locations were re-erected in the museum garden of the National Museum of Sudan prior to the flooding of Lake Nasser.[8]

The Kingdom of Kush

See also: Nubian architecture
Amun temple at Naqa

During the

Hellenistic elements.[9]

Further examples of ancient Nubian architecture are rock-cut temples, big mudbrick buildings with temples called deffufa, graves with stoned walls or dwellings made of mudbricks, wood and stone floors, palaces and well laid-out roads.[10] Archaeological campaigns have brought to light the remnants of Nubian cities, such as the Royal City of Meroë, where the so-called 'Roman baths', were characterised as "an outstanding example of cultural transfer between the African kingdom and the Greco-Roman culture of the Mediterranean."[11] Among Sudan's World Heritage Sites, the Nubian pyramids in Meroë are probably the best known architectural remnants of this historical period.[12][13]

The 9th century Throne Hall of Dongola, as pictured in 1821

Medieval Nubia

In

Nobadia, and Alodia built distinct forms of architecture in their cities, such as the Faras Cathedral with elaborate friezes and wall paintings, the Great Monastery of St Anthony or the Throne Hall of the Makurian kings, a massive defence-like building, in Old Dongola.[14] Most of these buildings were excavated and documented, before they were submerged in the waters of Lake Nasser in the 1960s and 70s.[citation needed
]

Arrival of Islam and Arabization

The ruined palace of Sennar, drawing by Frédéric Cailliaud, 1821

In the 16th and 17th centuries,

Ottoman Egyptian invasion in 1820, and, in the case of Darfur, even until 1916.[15]

Major cultural changes of this period were the adoption by growing numbers of people of the

Arabic language, with the building of mosques and Islamic schools as elements of social life. Other cultural developments were reported by foreign visitors such as Frédéric Cailliaud[16] and included the architecture of towns and buildings.[17]

View from the Khalifa House towards the tomb of the Mahdi

During the

Turkish-Egyptian rule (1821–1885), Turks, Egyptians, British and other foreign inhabitants of Khartoum expanded the city from a military encampment to a regional centre with hundreds of brick-built houses, official buildings like the first governor's palace, the mudiriya (government offices) and several foreign consulates.[18] In 1829, the first mosque was erected in Khartoum under governor-general Ali Khurshid Agha, who also had a dockyard and new military barracks built.[19]

Following the defeat of General Gordon's troops in 1885, the Mahdist state (1885–1899) built important architectural monuments in Omdurman, the country's capital during this period. Today, the reconstructed tomb of Muhammad Ahmad, known as al-Mahdi, the former residence of his successor Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, now the Khalifa House Museum, as well as the Abdul Qayyum Gate and some remnants of the fortifications, known as Al Tabia, bear witness to the Islamic tradition of Omdurman.[20] Other characteristic buildings include mosques and graves of important religious leaders, such as Sheikh Hamed el Nil.[21] Furthermore, Souk Omdurman is an important traditional market.[22]

Traditional architecture

Traditional homes and other structures of vernacular architecture in large parts of the country have been built using locally available materials, such as cow dung, mudbricks, stones or trees and other plants. The buildings are often embellished with painted ornaments, reflecting the local culture. This type of rectangular or square house is typically constructed by the future inhabitants themselves, relying on helping hands from the community.

The traditional, rectangular or square box-house (bayt jalus) with a flat roof, made of pure dried clay, sun-dried mud, brick or cow-dung plaster (zibala), continues to be the dominant architectural type in Sudan. In its pure form, wooden frames are used only for the roof, windows and doors. It is widespread everywhere, except in the south where the heavy rains make sloping grass roofs essential. The traditional box-house style was seen at its most complete in Omdurman, the city built by the khalifa ῾Abdallahi (r. 1885–98) in 1885, which was the country's capital for 13 years.

— The Grove Encyclopedia of Islamic Art and Architecture [23]

In the southern parts of the country, where there is more rainfall and vegetation than in the North, round huts with thatched conical roofs are widespread. These tukul huts are traditionally made of dried mud, grass, stalks and wooden poles.[24] Also, the various (semi-)nomadic peoples who live in Sudan, such as the Beja, Baggara, Rachaida or others have developed mobile camps and often still today live in tents.[25][note 2]

Traditional architecture
  • Nubian house in Dongola with traditional wall painting
    Nubian house in Dongola with traditional wall painting
  • Entrance with wall painting at Nubian Club, Khartoum
    Entrance with wall painting at Nubian Club, Khartoum
  • Tukul huts in southern Sudan
    Tukul huts in southern Sudan

Turkish architecture in Suakin

The Landing Place at Suakin, 1871

Long before the Turkish invasion of Sudan in the early 1820s, the city of Suakin on Sudan's Red Sea coast had been developed as an important port and commercial centre by its Turkish and Arab inhabitants. After the construction of Port Sudan as a modern city and harbour in 1909, Suakin fell into disrepair, with only some ruins of its former buildings left. In his book on The Coral Buildings of Suakin, Jean-Pierre Greenlaw, a British art teacher, who had set up the School of Design in Khartoum, documented the former state of the town and gave the following description:[note 3]

Built between the 16th and the 20th centuries, Suakin was a jewel-like example of the special sort of architecture which evolved to suit the conditions around the coasts of the Red Sea. The style consisted of two- or three-storeyed houses with vertical walls pierced by many-shuttered windows and characteristic mashrabiyas, and with roof-terraces (kharjahs) on which to sleep in the welcome coolness of the moon- or star-lit evenings. The outside walls of the buildings were white-washed, which set off the mashrabiyas and carved wooden doors which were surmounted by carved stone door-hoods. Its situation on a flat island in a lagoon provided a setting which gave it a unique beauty.

— Jean-Pierre Greenlaw, The coral buildings of Suakin: Islamic architecture, planning, design and domestic arrangements in a Red Sea port[26]

Other buildings bearing witness to Turkish cultural influence in Sudan are the graves of Ottoman rulers with characteristic qubba domes in today's Baladiya Street in Khartoum.[27]

Anglo-Egyptian rule in the 20th century

Plan of Khartoum, 1910
Round living quarters built for railway workers in Sikka Hadid neighbourhood, Kassala

After the British Imperial Army under Lord Kitchener had defeated the Mahdist State with its capital in Omdurman in 1898, the urban district of downtown Khartoum was developed according to colonial rules of space zoning in a series of Union Jack patterns. British urban planner William Mclean designed the first master plan for Khartoum, and it was once called "the jewel in the crown" of British colonies in Africa.[28]

New buildings in European styles were built between 1900 and 1912, such as the Government House (now the President's Palace) and other government buildings along Nile Street. Important buildings for education included the Gordon Memorial College, which later became the main building of today's University of Khartoum, its School of Medicine and the Catholic Comboni College. In 1902, the first school for girls was opened, which still exists as Unity High School.

The al-Kabir mosque for

Sephardic style on former Victoria Avenue, now Al-Qasr Street, for the Jewish community of greater Khartoum.[32]

For visitors, Khartoum also offered accommodation in several hotels, such as the Gordon Hotel and later, the

Republic of Sudan "inherited a fairly efficient system of education, public administration, transportation, recreation and other amenities."[35][note 4]

Provincial towns and cities like Kassala, El-Gadarif, El-Obeid, Port Sudan, Shendi, Atbara, or Wad Madani also underwent important changes necessary for colonial rule, with modern buildings, long-distance roads and other infrastructure, such as a railway system linking the major economic centres.[36][note 5]

Colonial buildings in Khartoum

Modern architecture after independence

Main entrance to University of Khartoum

In the first years after independence, new buildings, for example the Examination Hall of the University of Khartoum,[37] were designed by foreign architects, such as Peter Muller,[38] George Stefanidis, Alick Potter and Miles Danbi. A Faculty of Architecture was opened at the University of Khartoum in 1957, with Alick Potter as first Head of Department and professor of architecture.[39]

Sudan Development Corporation, Khartoum, designed by Abdel-Moneim Mustafa

From the 1960s onwards, Sudanese architects Abdel Moneim Mustafa[40] and Hamid El Khawad, who had returned from their studies in the United Kingdom, designed numerous contemporary Sudanese projects. These include the University of Khartoum's Lecture Theatre,[41] buildings for the Department of Biochemistry - Faculty of Agriculture, as well as the Structures Laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture.

Other buildings by Abdel Moneim Mustafa are the headquarters for the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa,[42] El-Ikhwa commercial building, El-Turabi primary school and apartment buildings in Khartoum's central business district.[43][31] Among the first graduates of the Faculty of Architecture were Omer Al Agraa and El Amin Mudather, who designed the university's building for the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.[44]

Peter Muller, an Austrian architect, designed the new Polytechnic complex, which later became the Sudan University of Science and Technology. The campus includes several multi-storey teaching blocks, a library, workshops, hostels, staff houses, and a stadium.[45] He also designed the Bata Shoe factory in the industrial area of Khartoum North.[46]

In Omdurman, the Al-Nilin Mosque (Mosque of the two Niles), with its distinct dome and devoid of supporting pillars inside, located at the confluence of the White and Blue Nile, was inaugurated in the mid-1970s.[47] Close to this, the National Assembly building was designed in the style of brutalist architecture, and "reminiscent of classical temple architecture", by Romanian architect Cezar Lăzărescu, and completed in 1978.[48] As one of several universities in Omdurman, the campus of Ahfad University for Women was built in 1966.[49]

Contemporary architecture in the 21st century

In the early 21st century, major new buildings in Khartoum were the 5-star Corinthia Hotel, opened in 2009 and financed by the Libyan government,[50] or the Telecommunications Tower, also of 2009.[51] El Mek Nimr Bridge, finished in 2007, spans the Blue Nile between downtown Khartoum and Khartoum North, and Tuti Bridge is considered to be the first suspension bridge in Sudan.[52]

The

Greater Nile Petroleum Oil Company Tower was built by a company based in Abu Dhabi. The main building of the Open University of Sudan
, opened in 2004 in the Khartoum suburb of Arkaweet, is another example of contemporary architecture in the capital.

21st-century buildings in Khartoum

See also

Notes

  1. ^ In the article on the cultural life in Sudan, the Encyclopædia Britannica writes: "The key to an understanding of contemporary Sudanese culture is diversity. Each major ethnic group and historical region has its own special forms of cultural expression. (...) Because of Sudan's great cultural diversity, it is difficult to classify the traditional cultures of the various peoples. Sudan's traditional societies have diverse linguistic, ethnic, social, cultural, and religious characteristics. And, although improved communications, increased social and economic mobility, and the spread of a money economy have led to a general loosening of the social ties, customs, relationships, and modes of organization in traditional cultures, much from the past still remains intact." Source: "Sudan - Cultural life". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  2. Internally displaced persons (IDPs), often living in tents and other transitional shelters. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), by the end of 2014, there were 2.3 million internally displaced people, which represented one of the world's largest internally displaced populations. Source: "Population of Sudan". fanack.com. Archived
    from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  3. S2CID 128886056 – via www.researchgate.net.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link
    )
  4. ^ "With the advent of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium, Kitchener reinstated Khartoum in 1898 and ordered a proper colonial plan and rebuilding the city in one year. Work proceeded diligently and Khartoum started transforming into one of the most beautiful cities of Africa, (...) Khartoum was laid out with proper colonial rules of space zoning, as to segregation of barracks, administration and housing of ranking categories, market places, etc. What is relevant here is that it was a very well thought of and a well executed plan with much consideration given to the ecology. Trees were part and parcel of the plan from the beginning and for that purpose, tens of thousands of seedlings were brought from India and perhaps Kenya and other tropical places, the first plant nursery was established and a solution for irrigation was innovated. Khartoum, in about ten years perhaps, was fully grown into a city with wide greened and asphalted roads, electricity and water networks and a properly designed surface drainage system, tramway and a rail line and a bridge over the Blue Nile, an airdrome, a city with gardens in houses and government buildings, landscaped open spaces and green beds along roads in addition to a flood control embankment along the Blue Nile." Source: Elkheir, Osman. "The Urban Environment of Khartoum". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ^ For an overview of the railway in 1952, see "Sudan Railways," in Railroad Magazine October 1952, at pp. 36-47. The article is illustrated with black and white photos of what was then a flourishing railroad.

References

  1. ISBN 978-0-521-21592-3
    .
  2. ISBN 978-3-643-12196-7
  3. ^ O'Fahey, R. S.; Tubiana, Jérôme (2007). "Darfur. Historical and Contemporary Aspects" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  4. ^ "Early History", Helen Chapin Metz, ed. Sudan A Country Study. Washington: GPO for the Library of Congress, 1991.
  5. ^ Manzo: Eastern Sudan in its Setting, The archaeology of a region far from the Nile Valley, 25
  6. ^ University College London (2000). "Buhen". www.ucl.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 1 December 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  7. JSTOR 3855621
    .
  8. ^ Friedrich Hinkel, "Dismantling and removal of endangered monuments in Sudanese Nubia" in: Kush V Journal of the Sudan Antiquity Service, 1965
  9. ^ Archaeological museum (17 January 2018). "Naga Project (Central Sudan)". Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  10. ISBN 0-313-32501-4
  11. ^ Wolf, Simone and Hans Ulrich Onasch (January 2016). "A new protective shelter of the Roman Baths at Meroe (Sudan)". Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI). Archived from the original on 16 June 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  12. ^ "Meroe - World Heritage Site - Pictures, Info and Travel Reports". www.worldheritagesite.org. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
  13. ^ "Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe". UNESCO World Heritage Centre. 2011. Archived from the original on 30 June 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  14. ISSN 2083-537X
    .
  15. ^ Alan Moorehead, The Blue Nile, revised edition. (1972). New York: Harper and Row, p. 215
  16. ISBN 978-2-7572-0210-4
    ).
  17. ^ "Sudan - The Funji". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 16 May 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  18. ^ "Originally, Khartoum served as an outpost for the Egyptian Army, but the settlement quickly grew into a regional centre of trade. It also became a focal point for the slave trade." Source: Roman Adrian Cybriwsky. (2013) Capital cities around the world: an encyclopedia of geography, history, and culture. ABC-CLIO, USA, p. 139.
  19. ISBN 978-0-8108-6180-0
    .
  20. ^ Mohammed, Husam Aldeen (1 November 2018). "Omdurman: the national capital of Sudan". 500 Words Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 August 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  21. ^ "The Sufis of Khartoum". Qantara.de - Dialogue with the Islamic World. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  22. ^ "Omdurman | Sudan". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  23. 9780195309911
  24. ^ "Tukul | housing". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  25. ^ In their ethnographical study of the northern Mahria, a tribe of Arab camel nomads in North Darfur, the authors describe the construction, spacial setup and use of tents in camps of this ethnic group belonging to the larger group of Rizeigat nomads. Source: Lang, Hartmut, and Uta Holier. "Arab Camel Nomads in the North West Sudan. The Northern Mahria from a Census Point of View." Anthropos, vol. 91, no. 1/3, 1996, pp. 20–22. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40465270. Accessed 18 May 2021.
  26. ^ Jean-Pierre Greenlaw, 1994. The coral buildings of Suakin: Islamic architecture, planning, design and domestic arrangements in a Red Sea port. 132 pp. London: Kegan Paul International.
  27. JSTOR 44947302
    – via JSTOR.
  28. ^ Seif SH, et al. (20 May 2017). "The urban planning of Khartoum. History and modernity. Part I History" (PDF). Wiadomosci Konserwatorskie Journal of Heritage Conservation. 51: 86–91. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  29. ^ الرسول, خالد عبد (1 May 2021). "مساجد حول العالم.. جامع الخرطوم الكبير مشيد من الحجر الرملي النوبي". الوطن (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 21 May 2021. Retrieved 21 May 2021. The cornerstone of the Khartoum Mosque was laid on September 17, 1900 AD, and it was inaugurated when Khedive Abbas Pasha Hilmi visited Sudan on December 4, 1901 AD, and the area in which the mosque was built is part of the old Khartoum cemeteries...
  30. ^ "Republican Palace Museum | Khartoum, Sudan Attractions". Lonely Planet. Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  31. ^ a b Osman, Omer S.; Bahreldin, Ibrahim Z.; Osman, Amira O.S. "Architecture in Sudan 1900-2014; an endeavor against the odds". ResearchGate. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  32. ^ "The Jewish Community of Khartoum". dbs.anumuseum.org.il. 1996. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  33. JSTOR 212333
    .
  34. ^ "Al-Bashir and senior leaders of the former regime transferred to Cooper Prison in Khartoum". www.gulftimes.com. 18 April 2019. Archived from the original on 27 May 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2021.
  35. ^ Elkheir, Osman. "The Urban Environment of Khartoum". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  36. ^ "Sudan Railways Corporation (SRC)". Institute of Developing Economies Japan External Trade Organization. 2007. Retrieved 14 July 2010.
  37. ^ "ACA Archives - University of Khartoum, Exam Hall". www.arab-architecture.org. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  38. ^ Arab Center for Architecture. "ACA Archives - Peter Muller". www.arab-architecture.org. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  39. ^ "ACA Archives - Alick Potter". www.arab-architecture.org. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  40. ^ "ACA Archives - Abdel Moneim Mustafa". www.arab-architecture.org. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  41. ^ "ACA Archives - University of Khartoum, Lecture Theater". www.arab-architecture.org. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  42. ^ "ACA Archives - Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) Headquarters". www.arab-architecture.org. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  43. ^ "ACA Archives - Nifidi and Malik Mixed Use Developments". www.arab-architecture.org. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  44. ^ "ACA Archives - University of Khartoum, Veterinary Science Building". www.arab-architecture.org. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  45. ^ "Austrian-Greek architect Peter Muller worked in Khartoum until the October Revolution of 1965. In 1961, he recruited two of Alick Potter's graduates: Omer ElAgraa and ElAmin Mudather. His approach in architecture is closely related to the modern movement. Most of his buildings have columns, free plans, free facades, and wide windows. He also introduced free roof shading instead of the roof garden." Source:"ACA Archives - Khartoum Polytechnic Complex". www.arab-architecture.org. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  46. ^ "ACA Archives - Bata Shoes Factory". www.arab-architecture.org. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  47. ^ Mohammed, Husam (5 November 2018). "The landmarks of Sudan". 500 Words Magazine. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  48. ^ "Cezar Lăzărescu: National Assembly of Sudan". #SOSBRUTALISM. Archived from the original on 24 May 2016. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  49. ^ "AUW History". www.ahfad.edu.sd. Archived from the original on 31 March 2022. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  50. ^ Fleming, Lucy (18 May 2010). "Sudan's Nile island joins the 21st century". BBC News. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  51. ^ "NTC tower Khartoum". emporis.com. Archived from the original on 1 July 2015. Retrieved 4 May 2021.
  52. ^ Fleming, Lucy (18 May 2010). "Sudan's Nile island joins the 21st century". BBC News. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  53. ^ "2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture recipients announced | Aga Khan Development Network". www.akdn.org. Retrieved 28 February 2022.

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Architecture of Sudan.


Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Architecture_of_Sudan&oldid=1220162853"