In the eastern part of the nation, the fortified historic town of Harar is situated on a plateau with deep gorges surrounded by desert and savannah. Between the 13th and the 16th centuries, the walls surrounding this holy Muslim city were built. Harar Jugol, said to be Islam’s fourth holiest city, has 82 mosques, three of which date from the 10th century, and 102 shrines, but the townhouses are the most impressive part of Harar’s cultural heritage, with their exceptional interior architecture. Its specific character and uniqueness are the influence of African and Islamic practise on the development of the building types and urban design of the city.
The historic town of Harar Jugol exhibits an important interchange of values of original Islamic culture, expressed in the social and cultural development of the city enclosed within the otherwise Christian region. Such influences have been merged with traditions that relate to the inland of Africa and particularly to southern Ethiopia, giving a particular characteristic form to its architecture and urban plan.
Harar Jugol bears exceptional testimony to cultural traditions related to Islamic and African roots. It is considered “the fourth holy city” of Islam, having been developed by a holy missionary from the Arabic Peninsula. Though a trading place and thus a melting pot of various influences, Harar has been in relative isolation in its region, contributing to cultural specificity, expressed in its characteristic community structure and traditions, which are still alive.
Harar Jugol is an outstanding example of a type of architectural and urban ensemble which illustrates the impact of African and Islamic traditions on the development of specific building types. The building types and the entire urban layout reflect these traditions, which give a particular character and even uniqueness to Harar Jugol.
Harar Jugol with its surrounding landscape is an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement, representative of cultural interaction with the environment. The social and spatial structure (afocha) and the language of the people all reflect a particular and even unique relationship that there developed with the environment. The cultural and physical relationships with the territory have survived till today, but they are also vulnerable to irreversible change under the impact of the modern globalizing world.