Activities >> Sites

Burkina Faso: Tiébélé

Background

Within the rich immovable cultural heritage that Burkina Faso possesses, a peculiar aspect is that of traditional architecture which is decorated by women at intervals, an act which is together a technical necessity, a social event and a way for women to demonstrate their artistic capacities and genral ability to care. One of the villages where the tradition is still very leaving is Tiebele, located just at the border with Ghana, 20km east of the town of Po. Within this village, a peculiar compound is that of the chief. It is wide and very highly decorated. Moreover, it has been opened to the public within an agreement passed between the chief and the association de développement de Tiébélé. Almost every year, the association is organising a painting festival (as part of a larger cultural festival) so that the paintings are regularly renovated. Still the compound shows numerous pathologies and there are numerous cases of destruction of the structures which render the maintenance of the site difficult. The Association is very ineterseted in a complete survey of the site and the exploration of solutions (with priority on preventive maintenance) to reduce maintenance needs.

Objectives

The objectives of this projet situé are (1) to prepare a plan of the site, (2) to observe and study the decay processes, (3) to have a better understanding of the site, its history and current social / Spiritual ilmportance (4) to assess the women’s know how within the village but also in the surrounding villages, (5) to make proposals for further activities that could ensure the proper conservation of the chief’s palace and the conservation of the women know-how.

Structure

The project is to be implemented in three phases. The first phase is devoted to the survey of the palace and its historical/social context, the second phase will be focused on the women know how with if possible an enquiry made at the occasion of the Tiébélé festival, and the third and last phase will be the occasion for putting all information together, synhetise it and develop a plan of action that can be put in place by the DPC to.

Results by the end of 2004

• A draft of plan has been prepared
• Survey of pathologies completed
• Draft history of the site prepared
• The actual complexity of the site (size, nb of sub-structures, population leaving in it,…) has been better assessed. The sudden death of the chief and the naming process that occurred during the work has been a break to the smooth progress of the work so that a re-organisation of the work-plan needs to be done.

Members of Africa 2009 network involved

Oumarou Nao, Directeur (DS, SC) Assita Traoré, (RC) Barthélémy Kaboré (TC, RS).