Skip to main content

Secondary sourceArtifact1327 (traditional date)

Djinguereber Mosque

1327 (traditional date)

An earthen mosque in Timbuktu traditionally said to have been built on Mansa Musa's orders after his return from pilgrimage.

The main surviving monument traditionally linked to Mansa Musa's patronage of Islamic learning.

Ask Mansa Musa about this sourceView the original(opens in new tab)
Exterior view looking up at a mud-brick mosque with a tall tapering tower topped by a rounded dome, with protruding wooden beam ends set in its walls. A large studded wooden door sits at lower left beside steps, under a pale sky with power lines crossing.
Djinguereber Mosque, Timbuktu, Mali, traditionally dated 1327.

About this source

What it is

The Djinguereber Mosque is a mud-brick mosque in Timbuktu, Mali, traditionally dated to 1327. It is one of the buildings linked to the city's historic community of Islamic scholars, sometimes called the 'University of Timbuktu'.

Why it matters

The mosque is traditionally credited to Mansa Musa, built soon after his famous hajj to Mecca in 1324. Whatever the exact details of its construction, it stands as the main surviving monument connected to Musa's support for Islam and learning in Timbuktu, and shows how his reign shaped the city for centuries afterward.

Look closer

  • What materials was the mosque built from, and what does that tell you about the local environment?
  • Why might later threats like weather and conflict make a building like this hard to preserve?
  • What does this building tell us that a written source cannot?

This artifact is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Mansa Musa, Ibn Battuta and Sunni Ali on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Mansa Musa sources

Meet the AI Mansa Musa →
Detail of a medieval painted map showing a crowned figure seated on a throne, holding a gold coin in one hand and a scepter in the other, with towns, handwritten labels, and wavy sea nearby.Painting

Secondary source

Catalan Atlas: Mansa Musa Enthroned

Abraham Cresques (attributed) · 1375

Open manuscript on a display, pages covered in brown-ink Arabic script on aged, yellowed paper. The left page is written in handwriting across most of its lines, and the right page has a decorated heading at the top followed by dense Arabic text. The leather-bound spine is visible at the left edge.Book

Secondary source

Tarikh al-Sudan

Abderrahmane Es Saâdi · c. 1655

Tall mud-brick mosque with stepped towers, small wooden beam projections on its walls, and a low wall with arched buttresses and a wooden door, set on sandy ground under a pale sky.Artifact

Secondary source

Sankoré Madrasa

14th-15th century

Detail of a medieval painted map showing a seated crowned figure holding a gold coin and a scepter on a throne, a camel rider in green robes and turban on the left, walled cities drawn in red and purple, red rhumb lines, and handwritten Catalan-style text in brown ink.Painting

Primary source

Catalan Atlas, Sheet 6: Western Sahara

Abraham Cresques · 1375

Front facade of a stone madrassa with a tall, ornately carved minaret rising above a pointed-arch wooden doorway. Visitors stand in the courtyard in front; a blue information sign stands at right.Artifact

Secondary source

Madrasa of Al-Nasir Muhammad

1303

Ready when you are

Start chatting with Mansa Musa now.

20 messages free · No credit card · Available in 50+ languages.

Trial Humy for freeGet a quote for institutions