19/04/2026
Reviving Somalia’s vanishing past: Mogadishu’s sacred heritage
n the old district of Xamar Weyne – the heart of the Somali capital – Fakhr ad-Din Mosque stands quietly. Built no later than 1269, it remains one of Somalia’s most significant medieval monuments. Even though it is among the best-known landmarks in the region, it is one of the least studied. I finally saw it for myself in 2023, when I examined it as my central case study to document historical architecture in southern Somalia. After extensive negotiation with military patrols and the mosque’s imam, I managed to record drone footage of the monument and even collected a tiny sample from its ancient wooden door, thanks to the elders of the mosque. Through this experience, I studied first-hand its Gujarati marble mihrab and other notable features, many of which are now hidden under layers of paint but nonetheless testify to centuries of exchange between the Horn of Africa and the rest of the world.
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