Archive for Africa
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Architecture of Sub-Saharan Africa
Unlike many other parts of the world, Africa has comparatively little surviving historical architecture. There are exceptions, like the extraordinary Coptic churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia, which were hewn out of the living rock by 13th-century African Christians. Early travellers from Europe gave accounts of African cities, including a 16th-century description of the splendid palace of [...]
Decoration and meaning in African indigenous architecture
Cylindrical dwellings with conical thatched roofs are widely spread in Africa, grouped round cattle kraals in the south or scattered in farms in the east. Beautiful examples of mud architecture can be found in the West African savannah. The Kassena of Burkino Faso hand-mould their huts like pottery, linking them with curving walls. Such compounds [...]
