Architect Carole Diop leads a tour of Dakar’s historical buildings, to highlight the danger to the architectural treasures now endangered by the Senegalese capital's growing appetite for construction. "The price of a square metre is around 3,000 euros," she says. "Buildings, even those of historic value, are worth less than the land on which they stand." N°36WA9A3
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00The original mosque is this one, it's a mosque with two minarets.
00:13We're going to talk about some of the buildings around the square.
00:17As far as I know, it's the only Protestant temple.
00:21Today, Dakar is a city that works a bit with Parstrat.
00:26So there are different layers that we discover as we evolve in the city.
00:32And the historical part, unfortunately, is disappearing little by little.
00:39That is to say that many buildings that were classified and that are part of the city's heritage
00:45have been declassified and demolished.
00:49We are in Dakar with a square meter that is close to 3,000 euros.
00:53And so we find ourselves in a situation where the buildings,
00:58even if they have a historical value, are worth less than the land on which they are located.
01:07So it becomes complicated, in this perspective, to protect them.
01:13You have a very beautiful gallery, which is the OH gallery, which is in the first floor.
01:24This is the first building in Dakar.
01:371923.
01:38And where did you find these photos?
01:43They are the descendants of the family.
01:48Today, it's the prefecture.
01:51The idea is that if you don't have heritage, you don't have history.
01:55So it is important to know yourself, to know where you come from,
02:01what kind of brick you are made of, to be able to move forward.
02:07So this knowledge of history is important, and heritage is part of that history.
02:13No visitor will come in 10, 20 years,
02:16when there will be no more beaches, no more green spaces, no more heritage buildings.
02:23No one will have an interest in coming to Senegal.