Chinguetti Mosque, Stone mosque in Chinguetti, Mauritania

The Chinguetti Mosque is a stone mosque in the Saharan town of Chinguetti, built in the Moorish style with thick mud-brick walls and a distinctive minaret topped with ostrich eggs. The prayer hall inside is rectangular and relatively simple, with low ceilings supported by stone columns.

The sources date the mosque's construction to the 3rd or 14th century, in the Adrar oasis town that was a historic centre of learning and worship. In 1378 AH the people of Chinguetti restored the mosque, keeping its original design, its historic dimensions and the foundations laid on the first day. UNESCO carried out several repairs in the 1970s, and the building is part of the World Heritage listing of 1996.

Chinguetti was once called the seventh holy city of Islam, and the mosque stood at the center of that reputation. Pilgrims from across West Africa gathered here before setting off on the long journey to Mecca.

Visitors are welcome outside prayer times, and modest dress is required when entering the site. A local guide can help make sense of the different parts of the building and point out details that are easy to miss.

The ostrich eggs placed on top of the minaret are not purely decorative: in local tradition, they are seen as symbols of purity and fertility. This same detail appears on several other old mosques across the Saharan region, linking them through a shared building custom.