The Great Mosque of Djenné

The largest mud-brick building in the world, raised on the Bani floodplain out of sun-baked earth bricks called ferey, with sand and earth mortar and a plaster skin. A building like that would dissolve in a few rainy seasons if it were left alone, so it is not left alone. Every year the whole town replasters it in a single festival: plaster is mixed in pits with young boys treading it, men climb the palm beams built permanently into the walls as scaffolding, women carry the water, elders watch from the marketplace, and it opens with a race to see who gets the first load to the wall. It is one of the few great monuments on Earth that exists because a community rebuilds it by hand annually. UNESCO listed it with the Old Towns of Djenné in 1988. Check current access rules and travel advice for Mopti before planning anything.