The Great Mosque of Touba
History
Its construction was decided in 1926 by Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of Mouridism. His son and first successor, Cheikh Mouhamadou Moustapha Mbacké, invested himself body and soul in the realization of the project, despite a very difficult national and international context marked by the economic crisis of the 1930s and the Second World War. Despite the veiled opposition of the colonial administration which sought to thwart the project by imposing the most draconian conditions on it, Mouhammadou Moustapha, after having obtained from the Administration a lease on 400 hectares, managed to overcome all the obstacles set before him. to lay the first stone marking the effective start of the work on March 4, 1932.
Urban and Architectural
The mosque has four minarets 66 meters high placed at the corners of the building, a fifth of 86.80 meters and is surmounted by large domes. In 2013, the califa serigne Sidy Moukhtar Mbacke added two minarets. These minarets can be seen up to 10 km from Touba, the highest of the minarets is called Lamp Fall in tribute to Sheikh Ibrahima Fall. The mosque has six large doors: the main entrance is on the east, one door on the west, and two on each lateral side. In the mosque, one reaches the mausoleum of Ahmadou Bamba, built at the northeast corner of the building, near the prayer hall. The tomb with an area of about 10 × 10 m. The Koran is read in the mosque 33 times every day.
Description
One of the major obstacles he faced was the unavailability of means of transport to transport the materials from Diourbel where the train stopped in Touba over a distance of 45 km. Faced with the colonial authorities' demand to pay all the site workers who were his followers and who had also agreed to make their sweat their participation in the project, Moustapha then fixed with the colonists the daily pay of each site worker but to his great astonishment the workers went to the cash desk to collect and immediately remitted the pay as a contribution. He then set about building the rails over this entire distance. When he died in 1945, the work was taken over by his successor Mouhammadou Falilou M'Backé, second son of Ahmadou Bamba. The mosque was inaugurated on Friday June 7, 1963 by Mouhammadou Falilou M'Backé.
References
https://www.tresorsdumonde.fr/mosquee-de-touba/
Details
Location
MOSQUE, TOUBA DERRIER RESIDANCE K.KHADIM RASOUL, Touba, Sénégal
Worshippers
15 000
Owners
le cheikh Ahmadou Bamba
Year of Build
1963
Area
25 000
Drawings
Map
History
Its construction was decided in 1926 by Sheikh Ahmadou Bamba, founder of Mouridism. His son and first successor, Cheikh Mouhamadou Moustapha Mbacké, invested himself body and soul in the realization of the project, despite a very difficult national and international context marked by the economic crisis of the 1930s and the Second World War. Despite the veiled opposition of the colonial administration which sought to thwart the project by imposing the most draconian conditions on it, Mouhammadou Moustapha, after having obtained from the Administration a lease on 400 hectares, managed to overcome all the obstacles set before him. to lay the first stone marking the effective start of the work on March 4, 1932.
Urban and Architectural
The mosque has four minarets 66 meters high placed at the corners of the building, a fifth of 86.80 meters and is surmounted by large domes. In 2013, the califa serigne Sidy Moukhtar Mbacke added two minarets. These minarets can be seen up to 10 km from Touba, the highest of the minarets is called Lamp Fall in tribute to Sheikh Ibrahima Fall. The mosque has six large doors: the main entrance is on the east, one door on the west, and two on each lateral side. In the mosque, one reaches the mausoleum of Ahmadou Bamba, built at the northeast corner of the building, near the prayer hall. The tomb with an area of about 10 × 10 m. The Koran is read in the mosque 33 times every day.
Description
One of the major obstacles he faced was the unavailability of means of transport to transport the materials from Diourbel where the train stopped in Touba over a distance of 45 km. Faced with the colonial authorities' demand to pay all the site workers who were his followers and who had also agreed to make their sweat their participation in the project, Moustapha then fixed with the colonists the daily pay of each site worker but to his great astonishment the workers went to the cash desk to collect and immediately remitted the pay as a contribution. He then set about building the rails over this entire distance. When he died in 1945, the work was taken over by his successor Mouhammadou Falilou M'Backé, second son of Ahmadou Bamba. The mosque was inaugurated on Friday June 7, 1963 by Mouhammadou Falilou M'Backé.