Lamu Old Town
Lamu Old Town is the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa, retaining its traditional functions. Built in coral stone and mangrove timber, the town is characterized by the simplicity of structural forms enriched by such features as inner courtyards, verandas, and elaborately carved wooden doors. Lamu has hosted major Muslim religious festivals since the 19th century, and has become a significant centre for the study of Islamic and Swahili cultures.
Lamu Old Town is the oldest and best-preserved Swahili settlement in East Africa, retaining its traditional functions. Built in coral stone and mangrove timber, the town is characterized by the simplicity of structural forms enriched by such features as inner courtyards, verandas, and elaborately carved wooden doors. Lamu has hosted major Muslim religious festivals since the 19th century, and has become a significant centre for the study of Islamic and Swahili cultures.
Outstanding Universal Value
Brief synthesis
Lamu Old Town, located on an island known by the same name on the coast of East Africa some 350km north of Mombasa, is the oldest and best preserved example of Swahili settlement in East Africa.
With a core comprising a collection of buildings on 16 ha, Lamu has maintained its social and cultural integrity, as well as retaining its authentic building fabric up to the present day. Once the most important trade centre in East Africa, Lamu has exercised an important influence in the entire region in religious, cultural as well as in technological expertise. A conservative and close-knit society, Lamu has retained its important status as a significant centre for education in Islamic and Swahili culture as illustrated by the annual Maulidi and cultural festivals.
Unlike other Swahili settlements which have been abandoned along the East African coast, Lamu has continuously been inhabited for over 700 years.
The growth and decline of the seaports on the East African coast and interaction between the Bantu, Arabs, Persians, Indians, and Europeans represents a significant cultural and economic phase in the history of the region which finds its most outstanding expression in Lamu Old Town, its architecture and town planning.
The town is characterized by narrow streets and magnificent stone buildings with impressive curved doors, influenced by unique fusion of Swahili, Arabic, Persian, Indian and European building styles. The buildings on the seafront with their arcades and open verandas provide a unified visual impression of the town when approaching it from the sea. While the vernacular buildings are internally decorated with painted ceilings, large niches (madaka), small niches (zidaka), and pieces of Chinese porcelain. The buildings are well preserved and carry a long history that represents the development of Swahili building technology, based on coral, lime and mangrove poles.
The architecture and urban structure of Lamu graphically demonstrate the cultural influences that have come together over 700 hundred years from Europe, Arabia, and India, utilizing traditional Swahili techniques that produced a distinct culture. The property is characterized by its unique Swahili architecture that is defined by spatial organization and narrow winding streets. This labyrinth street pattern has its origins in Arab traditions of land distribution and urban development. It is also defined by clusters of dwellings divided into a number of small wards (mitaa) each being a group of buildings where a number of closely related lineages live.
Attributed by eminent Swahili researchers as the cradle of Swahili civilization,Lamu became an important religious centre in East and Central Africa since the 19th century, attracting scholars of Islamic religion and Swahili culture. Today it is a major reservoir of Swahili culture whose inhabitants have managed to sustain their traditional values as depicted by a sense of social unity and cohesion.
Criterion (ii):The architecture and urban structure of Lamu graphically demonstrate the cultural influences that have come together there over several hundred years from Europe, Arabia, and India, utilizing traditional Swahili techniques to produce a distinct culture.
Criterion (iv):The growth and decline of the seaports on the East African coast and interaction between the Bantu, Arabs, Persians, Indians, and Europeans represents a significant cultural and economic phase in the history of the region which finds its most outstanding expression in Lamu Old Town.
Criterion (vi):Its paramount trading role and its attraction for scholars and teachers gave Lamu an important religious function (such as the annual Maulidi and Lamu cultural festivals) in East and Central Africa. It continues to be a significant centre for education in Islamic and Swahili culture.
Integrity (2010)
The property, covering 16 hectares, adequately incorporates all the tangible and intangible attributes that convey its outstanding universal value. A high percentage (65%) of the physical structures is in good condition with only 20 % being in need of minor refurbishment. The remaining 15 % may need total restoration. The majority of the town’s buildings are still in use.
The town needs to maintain its relationship with the surrounding landscape. The setting of the Old Town is vulnerable to encroachment and illegal development on the Shela dunes that are a fundamental part of its setting. Development is a threat to its visual integrity as an island town closely connected to the sea and sand-dunes, and to its ultimate survival in terms of the fresh water that the dunes supply. The setting extends to the surrounding islands, all of which need to be protected from informal settlements, and to the mangroves that shelter the port.
Authenticity (2010)
The architecture of Lamu has employed locally available materials and techniques which are still applied to date. The people of Lamu have managed to maintain age-old traditions reinforcing a sense of belonging and social unity. This is expressed by the layout of the town which includes social spaces such as porches (Daka), town squares and sea front barazas. The town continues to be a significant centre for education in Islamic and Swahili culture.
The authenticity of the Old Town is vulnerable to development and to a lack of adequate infrastructure, that could overwhelm the sensitive and comparatively fragile buildings and urban spaces that together make up the distinctive urban grain of the town.
Protection and management requirements (2010)
Lamu Old Town is managed by the National Museums and Heritage Act 2006 (that replaced the 1983 National Museums Act CAP 216 and Antiquities and Monuments Act CAP 215) and the Local Governments Act (and the associated by laws). Physical construction is also subjected to the EMCA Act and the 2006 Planning Act, which recognize that archaeology is material for consideration. The Old Town has a gazetted buffer zone that includes the Manda and Ras Kitau mangrove skyline and the Shela sand dunes, also protected by the Forest Act and Water Act respectively (although the buffer zone has not been formally approved by the World Heritage Committee). All the components are legally protected.
The Lamu Stone Town Conservation Office, now renamed the Lamu World Heritage Site and Conservation Office, was established by the National Museums of Kenya and has been in operation since 1986. A conservation officer is seconded to Lamu County Council to advice on conservation matters. A planning commission exists since 1991 to play a supervisory role and address emerging issues in the conservation area.
There exists a conservation plan for Lamu Old Town which is used as a guide in balancing the community needs for development and sustaining the architectural values of the town. The property is in a satisfactory state of conservation. Locally embedded institutions ensure the continued importance of Lamu as a centre of Islamic and Swahili cultural learning and practices.
A draft management plan has been developed that will address issues such as the mushrooming of informal settlements in the setting of the property, encroachment and illegal development on the sand dunes water catchment area, the proposed port and cruise ship berth, and oil exploration. The plan will also strengthen the inter-ministerial relationships to enhance an integrated management approach, including the establishment of a conservation fund, for sustainable conservation and management of the property.
Long Description
The growth and decline of the seaports on the East African coast and interaction between the Bantu, Arabs, Persians, Indians and Europeans represent a significant cultural and economic phase in the history of the region, which finds its most outstanding expression in Lamu Old Town. The architecture and urban structure of Lamu graphically demonstrate the cultural influences that came together over several hundred years from Europe, Arabia and India, using traditional Swahili techniques to produce a distinct culture.
Lamu represents the Swahili culture, resulting from interaction between the Bantu, Arabs, Persians, Indians and Europeans. The origins of the town date back to the 12th century, but the site was probably inhabited earlier. The present town flourished in the early 13th century among the independent city states on the East African coast. In 1506 it was invaded by the Portuguese, who monopolized shipping and suppressed coastal trade, causing the once prosperous city state to lose its position and gradually decline.
Under Omani protection the coastal commerce slowly regained its momentum, leading to a further development of Lamu and the construction, by skilled craftsmen and slave labour, of town houses and mosques using coral stone and mangrove timber. In 1890 the entire coastal strip north of Zanzibar was assigned to the Imperial British East Africa Company. The East African Protectorate was established in 1895 and organized into provinces and districts under the new British administration in 1898. In 1963 Lamu became part of the independent state of Kenya.
Lamu is located on an island known by the same name on the east coast of Africa some 250 km north of Mombasa. The town is made up of two distinct sections, one built from stone and the other from mud brick. The old town centre consists of large houses of coral stone and mangrove timber. The relatively larger, surrounding area consists of mud, wattle and makuti houses. The whole built area covers about 37 ha, while the stone town is about 15.6 ha, articulated in three distinct areas. The oldest part of the town is in the north, the areas of Pangahari and Yumbe with the Council Chamber and the Friday Mosque, then expanding to the west and south in the 18th century (Mkomani area); the bazaar street runs north-south behind the seafront; the fort and the houses on the seafront were built in the 19th century. The approximately 400 houses of the Mkomani area date mainly from the 18th century, forming the largest and historically and architecturally the most interesting part of the old town. It is characterized by narrow streets and two- to three-storey buildings, mingled with small gardens.
The Swahili houses are marked with simplicity and uniformity in their exteriors, but they have elaborately carved wooden doors particularly characteristic to Lamu. The massive walls are covered with lime mortar. The houses have an entrance porch (daka ) and an interior vestibule (tekani ) with seats. Inside the house the spaces develop around small courtyards (kiwanda ) and open galleries (misana ); they are decorated with painted ceilings, large niches (madaka ), small niches (zidaka ) and Chinese porcelain.
The Lamu Fort was built between 1813 and 1821 in the southern corner of the old stone town, encouraging new development, particularly on the seafront. The fort is a massive multi-storey building with a central courtyard which has become an image of the Lamu community, being now used for weddings, meetings and theatre productions. The buildings on the seafront with their arcades and open verandahs provide a unified visual impression of the town when approaching it from the sea. One of the largest buildings on the seafront (dating from 1892) has been acquired as the Lamu Museum, exemplifying the finest characteristics of the verandah-style construction in the 19th century.
The section consisting of mud-brick buildings covers an area of some 21 ha and is spread between Langoni (the oldest part south of the fort), Tundami (north of the old town), and Gademi (the newest part, west of the old town). Having first developed spontaneously, many of the houses have been transformed into permanent buildings with concrete block walls and corrugated iron roofs. Such development has taken place particularly after fires in 1962 and 1981.
Source: UNESCO/CLT/WHC
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