Six centuries-old medinas in the Comoros listed as UNESCO World Heritage sites

Some of these city-states were built as early as the 12th century along the trade routes of the Indian Ocean. The medinas include defensive walls, palaces, mosques and public squares, integrated into a network of narrow alleyways.

"This ranking is not a finish line but a starting point," reacted Saïd Mohamed Ali Saïd, the Comorian Minister of Culture, who is part of an important government delegation that traveled to Busan, South Korea, where the member states of the UN organization are gathered.

These medinas "are not just historical sites for us. They are living cities, where people continue to pray, trade and celebrate the great moments of life exactly as our ancestors did," he added, mentioning a "huge sense of pride".

These six medinas, four of which are located on the island of Grande Comore and two on that of Anjouan, are the first sites in the Comoros to join the UNESCO World Heritage List, which includes more than 1.200 cultural and natural properties of "outstanding interest (...) as part of the world heritage of all humanity".

"This heritage is fragile, and in some places in real danger. The classification changes the game: it obliges us, but it also opens doors for us," the Minister of Culture added.

The Comoros archipelago, located about 300 km off the coast of Africa and now populated by about 870.000 inhabitants, has for centuries been at the crossroads of maritime trade routes between East Africa, the Middle East, Madagascar and India.

These sites "showcase island urban forms and architectural expressions resulting from cultural exchanges linked to migrations and trade networks in the Indian Ocean," emphasizes the UNESCO World Heritage Committee.

"Globalization before its time"

"We were globalization before its time," said Comorian President Azali Assoumani in Busan, referring to an archipelago that "has long been" an "active crossroads, a place of exchange, knowledge and refined governance."

In the medina of the capital Moroni stands the iconic "Friday Mosque", with its famous green minaret overlooking the dhow port. All around, cobbled alleyways and multi-story houses, some adorned with heavy doors carved in relief.

"The Comorian medinas were home to historical sultanates. Unfortunately, uncontrolled urbanization and 'modernization' have distorted them," laments Ania Mohamed Issa, Director General of the National Office for the Enhancement of Heritage.

Among the medinas listed as world heritage sites is that of Itsandra, a small 14th-century maritime city and a major center of Swahili civilization, very close to Moroni.

The medina of Iconi, further south, built from the 12th century onwards, houses the ruins of the palace of the sultans of Bambao, one of the regions of Grande Comore. Its state of preservation is precarious. It contains the tomb of Prince Said Ibrahim, son of the last sultan of Grande Comore, Said Ali.

The Comoros will have to put in place "an ambitious national strategy. We will have many positive outcomes. There will be a development of cultural, historical and architectural tourism," hopes Faniya Abbas, president of Medina Wiratha, (medinas as heritage), and also granddaughter of Prince Said Ibrahim.