Documentation, Training and Restoration of the Old City of Agadez

The city of Agadez, built along caravan roads before the 15th century, preserves the rich tradition of local architectural styles. The Great mosque's minaret is one of the tallest mudbrick structures in the world, and the earthen-architecture houses around it are decorated with different complex shapes and patterns. The combined effects of civil unrest, which resulted in bombings in 2013, and climate change, causing flash floods, put this architecture at significant risk. This project, implemented by the local NGO Imane Atarikh in partnership with Iconem and CRAterre, has taken an integrated approach to the protection of the built heritage by carrying high-resolution 3D documentation, architectural analysis, and restoration of emblematic houses of the historic city. The restoration of the Great Mosque and twenty surrounding houses has also provided on-the-job training for thirty young people to preserve the knowledge of traditional architectural techniques and ensure that the community can maintain these buildings in the future.