Yoruba architecture
Yoruba architecture describes the architectural styles of the Yoruba people of West Africa, dating back to approximately the 8th century. and lasted up to and beyond the colonial period beginning in the 19th century CE.
Top: Osun-Osogbo Sacred Grove a World Heritage Site in Osogbo, Nigeria; Middle: Post-Colonial Yoruba-inspired architecture, Natural History Museum, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ife, Nigeria; Bottom: Interior of the old palace of the Deji of Akure with a low incline stair leading to an elevated platform. | |
| Years active | c. ? AD - Present |
|---|---|
Typical houses consisted of rectangular windowless single-room buildings arranged around a central courtyard ringed by verandas. Building styles resembled those of the Ashanti, including construction from earth, wood, palm oil and straw bolstered by timber frameworks and roofed with thatched leaves and wood, or later aluminum and corrugated iron.
Most medieval/pre-colonial Yoruba settlements were surrounded by defensive mud walls. Sungbo's Eredo, a series of such fortifications equipped with guard houses and moats, has been considered the largest pre-colonial monument in Africa, larger even than the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt or Great Zimbabwe.
After British colonization, architecture in Lagos in particular was influenced by Brazilian architecture, brought in large part by Agudas, which introduced elements such as masonry, stucco, arched windows and doorways, and added prominence to multi-storey buildings.