Zaria palace decoration symbolises tradition, royalty

Hausa architecture is said to be one of Africa’s prominent since medieval period. Many palaces in Northern Nigeria still maintain buildings they inherited from ancestors that passed away hundreds of years ago. The major attraction of these structures is their morals, ornate, decoration and colour that symbolise tradition, unity and even military might.

Zazzau palace is still proud of such buildings, because they portray the masterpiece that ancient architects were capable of producing. The construction and duration of these structures also reflect the talents of the builders and their deep knowledge in the science of construction.

According to Alhaji Muhammad Sani Dalhatu, a traditional title holder of Walin Maginan Zazzau, a scion of Babban Gwani, a prominent Zaria architect, the idea of building clay houses began with the development of thatch huts mainly for the kings and the princes.

Therefore, the architectural design of the Zazzau palace, which was decorated with morals, ornaments and colours, is meant to reflect royalty and differentiate it with other “ordinary” buildings.

“From afar, you can know that this is a palace not an ordinary residence,” Dalhatu said. “Without maintaining these traditional buildings, the emir’s palace would just be like any other mansion. These buildings are very significant, because by merely seeing them, they reflect the Hausa culture.”

Dalhatu said some of the morals, ornaments and decorations melted on the palace buildings have meanings. For example, the mat reflects unity and most Hausa palaces in the North copied the tradition of decorating their buildings with mats from Zaria, according to Dalhatu, while the swords symbolise warfare and bravery, among many other symbols.  

The inner palace of the Emir of Zazzau, Alhaji Shehu Idris, is still maintaining its ancient structure. Though made up of only mud, palm sticks (Azara) and thatch, the inner palace, which is decorated with ornaments can, certainly, make one to wonder about the intuition that informed such a creative architectural initiative. Mere description, though, cannot fully explain the expertise that characterised the building of the palace, but can indeed bring to light the talent of the builder, who was said to be Babban Gwani, an ancient architect who constructed most of the old buildings in Zaria in other parts of Northern Nigeria.

This inner palace is usually put to use when the emir receives prominent guests. Its shape looks like that of a traditional Hausa Zaure (entrance) and the walls were dotted with hand-made morals. 

A close look at this old palace would reveal that hundreds of deleb palm sticks (Azara) were glued together with mud in different groups and were attached to the inner walls from roof to the floor and this brought out a marvellous design. This had changed the shape of the building from square to curve form. The style makes the palace interior to take a pyramid shape appearance.

Dalhatu said: “modernisation of the building profession did not make residents of Zaria and beyond to continue to appreciate the talents which characterised the structures of our palaces. Some of these palaces were put in place hundreds of years ago. After existing for centuries, some of the structures, if not tampered with, can survive to infinity.

“Our problem is that, before the coming of the British explorers the idea of record-keeping was not common, though we have an Islamic means of record keeping but mainly on jurisprudence. This is why we can’t have authentic lifespan of these building. As far as I know, Hausa architecture has a history of over 2000 years. This is because our parents, grandparents and great grandparents were all architects.” 

One of the major attractions among the various structures in Zazzau palace is Kafen Daudu. This building, according to many residents, is the most beautiful. Aside beautifying the palace, Kafen Daudu also has special position in the history and the various activities of the palace.

It is a place that the emir sits and receives allegiance from his counsellors during any traditional durbar.

According to Alhaji Abubakar Ladan, a title holder of Chiroman Shantalin Zazzau and Chief Protocol Officer of the emir, Kafen Dauda was the ancient gate of the palace before it was replaced.

“It is because of its importance to the history of the palace that the emirate turned it to a pavilion where the emir and his special guests sit during festivities, especially durbars. It is obvious that Kafen Daudu deserves special attention of the palace and that is why the emirate put efforts to make it unique.

“Kafen Daudu simply means the royal stool of Daudu. Daudu is a traditional name given to the palace gatekeeper. The person that takes this title has to be brave and trustworthy, because of the importance of his duties,” Alhaji Ladan said.

Without exaggeration, Zazzau palace can be described as the most beautiful of all the palaces in Northern Nigeria and it was able to achieve the status largely because it is maintaining most of its ancient structures.