Swahili coral-stone architecture
Arquitectura de piedra coralina suajili
- Date
- c. 1100 · confidence medium
- Place
- Kilwa Kisiwani, Lindi, Tanzania
- Credited to
- Swahili city-states
- Field
- Tools
What it is
Mosques and palaces of coral stone and lime mortar, with domes and vaults like those of the Great Mosque of Kilwa and the Husuni Kubwa palace. They are the urban architecture of the East African coast.
The oldest mosques at Shanga (Kenya) date from the 8th-9th century. Husuni Kubwa was built around 1320-1330.
What it led to
- port cities of Indian Ocean trade
- multi-storey urban housing on the coast
- the Swahili architectural style