page_title: Somali art
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Somali art / History / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: ancient Almnara tower in Somalia
context_page_description: Somali art is the artistic culture of the Somali people, both historic and contemporary. These include artistic traditions in pottery, music, architecture, woodcarving and other genres. Somali art is characterized by its aniconism, partly as a result of the vestigial influence of the pre-Islamic mythology of the Somalis coupled with their ubiquitous Muslim beliefs. However, there have been cases in the past of artistic depictions representing living creatures such as the golden birds on the Mogadishan canopies, the ancient rock paintings in northern Somalia, and the plant decorations on religious tombs in southern Somalia, but these are considered rare. Instead, intricate patterns and geometric designs, bold colors and monumental architecture was the norm.
context_section_description: Somali architecture is a rich and diverse tradition of engineering and designing multiple different construction types such as stone cities, castles, citadels, fortresses, mosques, temples, aqueducts, lighthouses, towers and tombs during the ancient, medieval and early modern periods in Somalia, as well as the fusion of Somalo-Islamic architecture with Occidental designs in contemporary times.
  In ancient Somalia, pyramidical structures known in Somali as taalo were a popular burial style, with hundreds of these drystone monuments scattered around the country today. Houses were built of dressed stone similar to the ones in Ancient Egypt, and there are examples of courtyards and large stone walls such as the Wargaade Wall enclosing settlements.
  The adoption of Islam in the early medieval era of Somalia's history brought Islamic architectural influences from Arabia and Persia, which stimulated a shift from drystone and other related materials in construction to coral stone, sundried bricks, and the widespread use of limestone in Somali architecture. Many of the new architectural designs such as mosques were built on the ruins of older structures, a practice that would continue over and over again throughout the following centuries.
  Visual Art is not new to the Somali communities. Visual art namely paintings focus on rural landscapes, and colorful paintings of the cultural life. Some of the known visual artists display their skills through their presence on Somali web sites. Visual Art is emerging as a new chapter  in the history of Somali culture. When we talk about art, our attention is immediately drawn into performing art. Indeed, for some people, visual art is interpreted as anti religion, since it involves a corporal creation of a human being. There are very few Somali Visual Artists. They are under represented in the world of Modern African Art. Some of the known Somali Visual artists had created  their own web sites such as www.osmanart.net/ This webpage is run by a Somali Physician Artist and writer - Mohamed Buwe Osman. There are many Somali visual artists like the well known to most of the Somals Mr. Amin Amir and Abdul Arts. There are as well visual with college degree in Art like Mr. Ali Kulmiye Halane and Mr. Aziz.
caption: Almnara Tower in Mogadishu, Somalia.
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