Larabanga Mosque and Mystic Stone – Larabanga is a small town in Western Gonja in Northern Region, 5 miles from Mole National Park. It is a predominantly Muslim town and became famous because of the adobe Sahelian mosque which was built in the style of buildings in the former Western Sudanese Empires. It was at the height of the trans-Saharan trade. Furthermore, it is reputed to be Ghana’s oldest Islamic mosque.
This adobe Sahelian mosque is said to date from 1421 and has been included on the 2002 World Monuments Watch. The Sahelian mosque, built with mud and reeds, has two tall towers in a pyramidal shape, one for the “Mehrab” direction towards Makkah forming the facade on the east and the other as a minaret in the northeast corner. These are buttressed by twelve bulbous-shaped structures, which are fitted with timber elements.
More interesting during the British times, there was a road that was laid near the Larabanga Mosque; a stone was removed during the construction to make way for the road. The next day, the stone was amazingly found again in the same place it was displaced from.
The mystic stone was again removed from the way and the same thing happened the next day. Later, the officials decided to build the road around the stone, and it became a mystic stone. The mosque is measured about 8 x 8 meters and the architectural style is also known as “flat-footed adobe architecture”.
The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has contributed substantially to its restoration and lists it as one of the 100 Most Endangered Sites. Thus, the repair works have revived the knowledge of mud-plaster maintenance. It is believed to contain an ancient copy of the Quran, brought by an Arabian cleric, who accompanied the people on their migration to Larabanga.
You can enjoy the mosque and feel the cultural atmosphere. The Mosque is built of clay in Sudanese style architecture and has to support wooden beams, jutting out of the walls. This site is located 6 km away from Mole National Park and 30 km away from Damango, there are clear signposts from Mole.
The local people have also been supported in a handicraft and tourism project to generate money not only for meeting the maintenance expenses of the mosque but also to improve the economic conditions of the people.
