The Asante Traditional Buildings are a collection of 10 traditionally built buildings from the time of the

Ashanti Empire The Asante Empire ( Asante Twi: ), also known as the Ashanti Empire, was an Akan state that lasted from 1701 to 1901, in what is now modern-day Ghana. It expanded from the Ashanti Region to include most of Ghana and also parts of Ivory Coast ...

in the area near

Kumasi Kumasi is a city and the capital of the Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly and the Ashanti Region of Ghana. It is the second largest city in the country, with a population of 443,981 as of the 2021 census. Kumasi is located in a rain forest region ...

. These buildings served as fetish houses and shrines during the 18th and 19th centuries, during the golden age of the Ashanti Empire. When the empire fell during the British occupation of the area from 1806 to 1901, most Asante buildings of the period were destroyed during the era. Among other buildings, the royal

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

was destroyed by

Robert Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder of The Boy Scouts Association and its first Chief Scout, and founder, with ...

in 1895. The 10 remaining buildings are the last remains of the history and culture of the Asante people and were inscribed on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

World Heritage List World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

in 1980. The buildings were described as "home of men and gods". The houses are arranged around courtyards, and are built of timber, bamboo and mud plaster. The construction style is called wattle and daub. The walls of the buildings are covered in

bas-reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

, with spiral and

arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foliate ...

forms and representations of animals, birds and plants. These reliefs consist of traditional

Adinkra symbols ''Adinkra'' are symbols from Ghana that represent concepts or aphorisms. ''Adinkra'' are used extensively in fabrics, logos and pottery. They are incorporated into walls and other architectural features. ''Adinkra'' symbols appear on some tradi ...

, having unique symbolic meanings associated with Asante culture and were passed down over generations. The shrines consist of four rooms facing a central courtyard, built on a raised plinth. Three of the rooms were used for ritual activities, while the fourth was designated for the shrine itself, to which access was restricted. The traditional religion is still practiced at the shrines, which is the reason for their survival and maintenance. However, because they were built out of mud and straw, the Asante buildings are vulnerable to natural fluctuations. The disruption of regular maintenance cycles and decline in religious use threatens the preservation of the buildings.

References

* Michael Swithenbank. ''Ahanti fetish houses''. Accra Ghana Univ Press, 1969
About Ghana: World Heritage Sites

conservation practice in Ghana, a case study: the fetish house at Asawasi (Ashanti)
(article, pdf) {{African architecture styles World Heritage Sites in Ghana Ashanti Region Architecture of the Ashanti Empire