Djenne Slide Show
January 2007

Photos by Jerry Porter





Djenne is unquestionably the most beautiful town in the Sahel.  On an island for most of the year the buildings are shaped in the smooth lines of the Sudanic style, moulded from the grey clay of the surrounding plains.  The Grande Mosque, built in the style of the original mosque, dominates the townscape. Each year's rains wash away the building's smooth facade and it is restored in the dry season.  The beams protruding from the building serve both to support the building and as scaffolding for the annual reconstruction.