MOSQUEE DE KONG

People come all the way to Kong just to see this incredible neo-Sudanese mosque, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2021. Built in the same vein as the famous mosques of Djenné and Timbuktu in Mali, its architecture is simpler, but its dimensions are nonetheless imposing. Built in the ^16th century, it bears witness to the Islamization of the country. Kong was an important religious center, particularly when it appears in ^17th-century writings as the Missiriba mosque. But it was later destroyed in 1897 by Samory Touré, founder of the wassoulou empire, who set fire to the town to prevent it falling into the hands of the French colonists against whom he was then fighting. Ironically, it was rebuilt identically in the ^20th century by the same colonists.
It is built of mud brick, consolidated by strands (twisted wires forming a cable) and wooden beams. Two pointed cones form the minarets, while regular buttresses give it its unique silhouette. Dormer windows let light into the interior. Today, it is still used as a place of prayer, with men praying on the east side and women on the west. Another small mosque in the city, built around the same time and in the same style, is the Barola Mosque, with its blue doors. Other smaller, lesser-known mosques exist in the surrounding villages, but the instability of the region currently limits visits.