Sankore Mosque, Timbuktu

[UNVERIFIED CONTENT] Although Timbuktu's place in history is based on its commercial as well as its scholarly achievements, it is three of its mosques that in 1988 earned the city's historic center a Unesco World Heritage designation. One of these three mosques, the Sakore Mosque, associated with a University of the same name, helped establish Timbuktu as a world center of Islamic learning from the 13th to the 17th century. Some reports indicate that this mosque may have been built as early as the 12th century, possibly making it the oldest mosque in West Africa. The Sakore Mosque and the Great Mosque of Djenne are considered the two best examples of Sudano-Sahelian architecture in the world. Timbuktu, Mali