Dictionary of islamic architecture

partner for this desert trade was the city of Sijimassa
Oualata (also known as Walata, Iwalatan and Birou)

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from which goods would be traded to Fez and
Tlemcen in Morocco.
During the fourteenth century Mansa Musa
started his famous pilgrimage from Oualata and on
his return brought with him the famous architect and
poet al-Saheli who built an audience hall there. In
1352 the city was visited by Ibn Battuta who stayed
there for seven weeks. He described the city as a
cosmopolitan trading and intellectual centre under
the administration of the empire of Mali. In the
sixteenth century a new component was added to
the city’s ethnic composition with the arrival of the
Arabic Beni Hassan tribe. The lasting result of this
was the adoption of Hassaniya, a mixed Arabic
Berber language which became the main language
of commerce in the city. The other main language of
Oualata is the Soninke language of Azer.
The buildings of Oualata are made of stone with
roofs made of split-palm beams and palm-frond
matting overlaid with earth. The houses consist of a
central courtyard entered through an inner and outer
vestibule. There are often two storeys in the houses
with the upper floor reached by an external staircase
in the courtyard. All the rooms lead directly off from
the courtyard which is the centre of activity and
contains beds for the servants. The stone walls of the
houses are covered with a thick layer of mud plaster
(banco) on both the outside and the inside. This
technique is unique to Oualata and distinguishes it
from other Berber towns of Mauritania suggesting the
influence of non-Berber architecture from further
south. This idea is strengthened by the fact that the
mud rendering is carried out by the women of the
society. The most remarkable feature of the earthen
rendering is the application of striking white-painted
designs around the doorways, windows and niches
of the courtyard. It is noticeable that the designs are
restricted to the interior of the courtyards and are not
visible from the outside, consisting of arabesque
medallions and chain motifs executed in thick but
precise white lines. The most elaborate decoration is
reserved for the doorway of the senior wife’s room
where a number of different motifs are used to
produce a highly ornate design. The doorways are
made of wooden planks with wooden locks and are
decorated with Moroccan brass medallions. Either
side of the doorway are elaborately carved wooden
pillars, or asnads, which are used as calabash supports.
The pillars are set into an earthen base made in the
shape of a small stepped pyramid but at the top divide
into three branches. Similar pillars are found in Berber
tents and their presence in these houses are reminders
of a nomadic past. Inside, the rooms are fairly bare
except for a large canopied platform bed hung with
tapestries and mats.