KENYA POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT

(SABE)

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

BARCHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE

SUBJECT: NUBIAN ARCHITECTURE

PRESENTED BY :AHENDA KEVIN OWINO

COLLEGE NO. 111/00687

SIGNATURE:

PRESENTED TO: DR. MAKACHIA

DATE: 08/03/2012
Declaration
After a thorough research on Nubian architecture, I hereby declare that this is purely my work
and has not been presented before

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

CONTEXT

History and geographical location

Physical environment

Politics and society

World view, culture and Religion

Resultant Architecture

RESEARCH METHODS

FINDINGS

CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
The Nubian community is believed to have created the world’s first civilization and that
civilization was much older than Egypt and some artifacts are dated back to about 8000 years
B.C.

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION

The land of the Nubians (Nubia) extends along the Nile from the South of
Aswan to the town of Dabba, near the Fourth cataract, linking Egypt to the
Sudan in the South along the Nile valley.

The etymology of the name Nubia is uncertain, but some researchers believe it is
derived from the Ancient Egyptian nbu, meaning gold, referring to the gold
mines for which Nubia was famous. Nubia is generally referred toas Ta-Seti,
meaning "Land of the Bow", a clear reference to the weapon favoured by the
Nubians.
Physical Environment

The most notable features of the Nubian Nile are its frequent stretches of rocks and rapids, called
"cataracts", of which (before the Aswan Dam) there were six numbered cataracts between Aswan (the
First Cataract) to Shabaluka GorgeIn Egyptian Nubia, the climate is hot, dry and rainless throughout the
year. In Sudanese Nubia, it rains occasionally in late summer, and the further south one travels, the
greater the rainfall. In general, the Nubian climate is cold and hot, arid, humid and rainy. Her topography
is quite sloppy, hilly and flat .The vegetation is reeds, papyrus and palm trees which grow along the Nile
River.

Society and Politics

Gender Relations- In the traditional Nubian village, men depended on women for their
maintenance of the family and the home, while women depended on men for money and support.
The nearly equal status of men and women was bolstered by the fact that women often had their
own sources of earnings. This helped women achieve nearly the same power as men.

Raising Children- Babies are loved and cared for by everyone, and as they grow they are
socialized and instructed by the entire villag. The females of the family were raised to do
housework and farming chores if the family had farmland while boys had chores around the
home

Politics- Three Nubian kingdoms arose on the ruins of Meroitic power. In the north, from the
First to the Third Cataracts, was the kingdom of Nobatia, with its capital at Faras; south of it and
stretching as far as the place known to Arab writers as El Abwab, 'the doors', thought to be near
the modern village of Kabushia, was Makuria, with its capital at Old Dongola; and further south
again, the kingdom of Alwah (or Alodia), whose capital, Soba, is close to Khartoum. These three
kingdoms later united into one powerful kingdom under king Cyriacus.

Economic activities

Most Nubians were farmers, herdsmen, merchants, soldiers and artisans. Men used bows to hunt
hippos, gazelles, ostriches and turtles for food. Fishing was also an economic activity along the
Nile River. The artisans majorly did paintings and decorations. The Nubians also did trade. The
Nile Valley made it an ideal trade passageway for goods to be sent to the Mediterranean from the
interior of Africa.

Religion, culture and World view

The ancient Nubians worshipped a variety of gods and goddesses. Amun was one of the most
worshipped, most powerful and important gods and was associated with the sun and forces of
nature. Nubians believed that life on earth started at Jebel-Barkal (Holly Mountain) in Napata. It
thus functioned as the centre of religious life in Nubia. The Nubians also believed that kings
were the sons of Amun and were therefore deified. Pilgrims travelled to this mountain to pay
homage to the Nubian deities.

Maat was the concept of order and righteousness that priests used to decide whether a king was
ruling properly or not. The Maat concept also helped to preserve a sense of order and morality
among people.

Nubian religion believed in the afterlife, life continues even after death. Objects needed in the
afterlife were often buried with the dead along with statues of Nubian gods. They also supplied
their dead with water and food during offering on an offering table next to which stairs went
down to a pool. This was a symbol of purification. Plant form decorations alluded to vegetation,
growth, fertility and rebirth.

Initially the journey to Christianity was long and hostile, changing pagans to Christianity was
such an uphill task for the missionaries in Nubia. An Orthodox missionary, who was a priest by
the name Julian, went ahead to Nubia, arriving there about A.D. 543. Julian remained in Nobatia
for two years, having considerable success in converting the pagan Nubians. After Julian's return
to Constantinople, Longinus was appointed to succeed him in charge of the Nubian mission. For
the next seven years; Longinus worked amongst the Nubians and also requested the king of
Alwah, to spread the gospel amongst the people of that kingdom even though the journey was
hazardous and hostile. Even so the gospel was spread along the Nile River and thus, by A.D.
580, Christianity had become the official religion of the northern Sudan

It was A.D 640 when Nubians first came into contact with the Arabs. They carried continuous
attacks on Nubian land for decades but due to the union of the three Nubian kingdoms under a
new king-King Cyriacus, the Nubians were more powerful. Even so, they were later conquered
by the Arabs and were converted to Islam religion.

Dwelling Architecture of the Nubians

Evolution of Nubian houses

The earliest Nubian architecture consisted of speos (structures derived from curving of rocks).
This was evidenced by the A and B-Group Cultures.

The very ancient (C-Group Culture) Nubian houses were simply circular structures; they were
dome shaped with stone floors. The dome structure lied on a central pole. They were sheathed
with wattle-and-damb, reeds and hide. The circular structures were built and arranged in an
oval or circular pattern to form a homestead. These smaller circular structures gradually
became larger and rectangular as mud brick gained currency.

After several evolutions in styles, the typical Nubian house became very spacious, with several
large rooms that were able to accommodate the extended family members and guests. In the
center of each home was an open courtyard with one entrance to the homestead. The several
rooms opened into the open courtyard which was majorly used to for resting and making
stories. It was meant to unite the families. The front of the house was colorfully painted with
geometric patterns. Most of the paintings and decorations on the homes had religious
connotations. The colorful designs were a distinctive and admired feature of Nubian culture.
This architecture was evidenced by D-Group culture. They employed the technique for roofing
in mud brick, using vaults and domes

The homes in Nubia which made up the nugu (village) extended 320 Km along the Nile at
irregular intervals in a staggered line more or less parallel to the river. Throughout Nubia, the
principal entrance to the houses faced the river, whether they were on the east or .west banks of
the Nile". The threshold was highly decorated. It symbolized the heritage of the household and
was the chief feature..
The main entrance led into an open courtyard or haush, with rooms adjoining the the exterior
walls on one or more of its sides.
Some living rooms had a high wall-to-wall opening above the door or would be completely open
on to the courtyard. In front of these rooms there was a flat roofed space known as the khayma
(literally "tent"), covered with palm stems and branches. it was a covered sitting area along the
open courtyard"..
"The guest room or mandara usually had separate entrances, allowing the guest freedom of
movement, while sustaining the privacy of the inner family quarters. The mandara was
considered an important part of the house, as was hospitality, which continues to be an important
obligation to Nubians.
In the South where the Nile was wider and alluvional mud was plentiful, a method know as the
galos or tuf technique of construction prevailed. The walls were made of mud, mud brick (adobe)
or stone, and were a dira'a (half an arm's length) thick.
They constructed their roofs by using split palm trunks and acacia wood beams.
The women and the children of the household plastered and decorated the interior and the
exterior of their homes with bright, bold and colorful designs some of which depicted the
owner's pilgrimage to the holy city of Makka.ss
church (temple) architecture
Of the material remains of the civilisation of Christian Nubia the best known are the churches,
the remaining of some sixty of which are still to be seen stretching from the Egyptian frontier to
perhaps Jebel Segadi, close to Sennar, where the remains of a building which may have been a
church have been discovered. These churches, nearly all of them small, are of the basilica type
common in the Byzantine world.

Church plan

The figure below shows a typical church. It can be seen that the church is a rectangular building
with north and south aisles divided off from the nave by a series of columns. The church is
oriented in the North-South direction. At the east end there is a curved internal apse in front of
which stood the altar. This area is known in the Coptic church as the haikal. The pulpit normally
stood close to the most easterly pillar of the north aisle. At the west end of the church there is
often a tower, or upper room, in the south corner and another room in the north corner.
Doorways are in the north and south walls

Fig.1 PLAN OF CHURCH AT FARAS

The great majority of these churches were built of sun dried bricks and consequently, they are
still only found in a reasonable state of repair in the almost rainless areas of the north. A few
larger and more important ones were built of stone, such as two at Faras, and the large monastic
church at Ghazali.

Decorations

Decoration was restricted to paintings. Most of the interior wall must originally have been
covered with paintings of religious scenes. There were not only many other paintings in these
churches, mostly of saints, but also of biblical scenes, and some of the natives. The general
impression of the paintings is one of simplicity and crudity. The paintings also show vigour and
enthusiasm of the painters. But only in a very few cases have these been preserved. The best
preserved and the finest were those in the Rivergate Church at Faras and in the church at Abd el
Qadir. 

Fig.2 THE BISHOP OF FARAS

 FIG. 3. THE EPARCH OF NUBIA

FIG. 3, from the church at Abd el Qadir, is of very great interest and importance. An inscription
beside it shows that it is a representation of the Eparch of Nubia (Kingdom of Dongola). He is
seen holding a representation of the church, of which he was presumably the founder, in his
hand. On his head he wears the two-horned headdress, which seems to have been an emblem of
Nubian royalty.

Architecture of the dead

The very first tombs (such as those in Kerma) were circular pits covered with white or black
desert pebbles in circular mound of diameter about 300 feet. Underneath existed a complex
structure. A pathway running along the diameter was laid with decorated mud walls to support
the above mound. The pathway went to a vaulted chamber with a wooden door where the king
was buried. The vaulted chamber was in the centre of the chamber.

The Nubians also built a large number of small pyramids-tombs, to bury their kings. Many were
similar to the Egyptian mastabas. The pyramids had a chapel built on top and tombs
underground.

RESEARCH METHODS
The information was obtained from the internet, interrogation and observation of Nubian
homes and way of life in Kibera, Naiobi Kenya.
FINDINGS

CONCLUSION