The ruined Islamic city of Maduna is considered the most substantial and most accessible ruin of its type in Somaliland.[1][2] The main feature of the ruined city includes a large rectangular mosque, its 3 metre high walls still standing and which include a mihrab and possibly several smaller arched niches.[2] The mosque is surrounded by several old houses, most of whom being partially intact.[2] The houses include roofed rooms, as well as compounds of dome-shaped structures lacking doors or windows.[3] Just on a slope below the ruined city stands a baobab tree, large enough to suggest that it was planted while the city was inhabited.[2]
Not much is known about Maduna's history, with its dry-stone architectural style suggesting that Maduna was a contemporary of other ruined cities in Somaliland like Amoud and Abasa, meaning that Maduna was presumably part of the Adal sultanate.[2] Swedish-Somali archaeologist Sada Mire dates the ruined city to the 15th–17th centuries.[3]
.svg)
