BCEAO Tower (Bamako)
The BCEAO Tower (fr. Tour de la BCEAO ) in Bamako, Mali, at 20 stories is the tallest building in the West African nation. It sits of the north ("right→") bank of the Niger River in the city center of Bamako.[1]
Classified as Neo-Sudanic architecture, the tower is modeled on the Sudano-Sahelian architecture of the famous Mosques of Djenné and Timbuktu. The building, a dull orange in colour, matching the traditional banco architecture of West Africa, as well as that of the soil in the surrounding area. Its tapered shape resembles a termite hill from a distance. Its distinctive "horns" (or "bat ears") on the building's top and its deeply incised, vertically variegated facade are typical decorative elements of Sahelian architecture, found on buildings such as the Great Mosque of Djenné, and strongly resembling the 1923 Bamako Market building.
The BCEAO Tower is the Malian headquarters of the Central Bank of West African States, which provides development banking and government financial and currency services in several Francophone West African nations.
The building is located in the busy Commune III neighbourhood, where "Avenue Moussa Tavele" meets the waterside boulevard between the two main Bamako bridges : King Fahd Bridge a block west and Martyrs Bridge three blocks east. Just to the east of the BCEAO complex, a park and formal garden mark where the diagonally running "Boulevard du Peuple" reaches the river. By contrast, small market gardens and launching points or river canoes lie along the river front.[1] With the Hotel de l'Amitié and the Grande Mosquée, the BCEAO Tower is one of three landmarks visible across most of the city.[1]
References
- Archnet: BCEAO Tower.
- Neo-Sudanic Architecture: Online notes for Dr. Gregory Mann, Columbia University. Retrieved 2008-08-11.
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