Built in the 1840’s under Omar Saidou Tall, founder of the Toucouleur Empire.
“Mosque architecture in the Fouta Djallon is resolutely square in plan, based on the model of the Kaʾba as encouraged by the Maliki school of Islam followed throughout West Africa. The Friday Mosque of Dinguiraye, Guinea, is the largest and most spectacular example of this type. The plan employs triple entrances on the north, west, and south sides. A mihrab niche on the east side indicating the qibla completes the composition.
A large central pillar, flanked by numerous smaller wood poles dividing the interior floor plan into rows and aisles, supports the earthen ceiling. The central pillar supports above it an upturned umbrella-like collection of wood poles radiating out and supporting a massive thatched domical roof that protects the earthen cube below. Such a support system for the roof is unnecessary in ordinary residential architecture due to the smaller space covered, but here it is required to prevent the rafters from bowing. The eaves extend down to a circle of short wood poles planted in a circular plan around the internal cube, cloaking the interior in deep, dark shadows […].
The mosque of Dinguiraye may therefore be characterized as a circular plan roof focused on the central pillar of a square-plan building.” – from “Localizing Fulbe Architecture”, by Mark Dike DeLancey
