Location and site

Known as the gateway to the desert, Agadez, on the southern edge of the Sahara desert, developed in the 15th and 16th centuries when the Sultanate of Aïr was established  and Touareg tribes were sedentarized in the city, respecting the boundaries of old encampments, which gave rise to a street pattern still in place today. The historic centre of the city, an important crossroads of the caravan trade, is divided into 11 quarters with irregular shapes. They contain numerous earthen dwellings and a well-preserved group of palatial and religious buildings including a 27m high  minaret made entirely of mud brick, the highest such structure in the world.  The site is marked by ancestral cultural, commercial and handicraft traditions still practiced today and presents exceptional and sophisticated examples of earthen architecture.

Registration criteria

Criterion (ii): From the 15th century, Agadez, “the gateway to the desert”, became an exceptional crossroads for the caravan trade. It bears witness to an early historic town, forming a major centre for trans-Saharan cultural interchanges. Its architecture embodies a synthesis of stylistic influences in an original urban ensemble, made entirely of mudbrick and which is specific to the Aïr region.

Criterion (iii): The historic town and its outstanding monumental ensemble, including the Grand Mosque, with its minaret, the tallest ever constructed in mudbrick, and the Sultan’s Palace, bear witness to an exceptional architectural tradition, based on sophisticated use of mudbrick. For more than five centuries, the city has developed a cultural, commercial and handicraft tradition, based on the continuity of the Sultanate of Aïr, up to the present day.

Historical reference

15th century

• Establishment of the Sultanate of Aïr in Agadez.
• Beginning of Agadez’s role as a major crossroads for trans-Saharan caravan trade (‘gateway to the desert’).
• Regrouping of Tuareg tribes and growth of economic and cultural exchanges.
• Gradual establishment of an original urban layout, resulting from sedentarisation that respected the ancient encampments.

• 15th–16th centuries

• Development and structuring of the historic city through the construction of an urban complex in adobe, including dwellings, palaces and religious buildings.
• Emergence of an architectural and decorative style specific to the Aïr region, based on the sophisticated use of raw earth.

From the 16th century onwards

• Consolidation of an exceptional architectural tradition, illustrated in particular by the Great Mosque, its adobe minaret — the tallest ever built in this material —,and the Sultan’s Palace.
• Sustainable organisation of the city around the political and religious monuments of the sultanate.

For more than five centuries (15th century to the present day)

• Continuity of the Sultanate of Aïr, guarantor of social unity and economic prosperity.
• Maintenance of Agadez as a vibrant cultural, commercial and craft centre.
• Overall preservation of the historic urban fabric and predominantly traditional housing.

Contemporary period

• The historic centre remains inhabited by around 20,000 people.
• Implementation of urban planning regulations for the protected perimeter.
• Protection of the site ensured both by national legislation and by the traditional authority of the sultanate.
• Appearance of local modern alterations (concrete blocks, sheet metal, visible electrical networks, painted advertisements), posing challenges to the integrity and authenticity of the property.

Source: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1268/