Mugamba Rugo

The rugo (Kirundi: house or housing complex) is the traditional dwelling of Burundi, best preserved as a cultural model in the Mugamba highlands. It is a round, dome-shaped house built entirely of plant materials, with a thick straw thatch over a woven frame. Burundi placed the traditional rugo of Mugamba on its UNESCO World Heritage tentative list on 9 May 2007.

Form and size

The house is circular, and its diameter was traditionally set out using the intambwe, a body measure taken from a man lying on the ground with one arm extended; a stake marked the end of his finger. Size reflected status and need. A 2018 study gives typical floor areas of 20 to 28 m² (215 to 300 sq ft), an average height of about 3 m (10 ft) and a radius of about 2.5 m (8 ft) for a young household, about 3 m for a large family and up to 5 m (16 ft) for a chief. The royal hut (ingoro) was about 10 m (33 ft) across and 4 m (13 ft) high, under thatch about 90 cm (3 ft) thick.

Roof structure

The rugo is essentially all roof. Some 45 to 60 piles are set in a circle, 30 to 40 cm (12 to 16 in) apart; 120 to 200 bent poles about 4 m (13 ft) long rise from them and are folded together near the top (guheta). Horizontal rings of reed core wrapped in papyrus bind the frame. Inside, 8 to 13 carved pillars help carry the dome, and a spiral coil (umutente) about 200 m long stiffens the roof. The inner roof (igisenge) is lined with palm reed or papyrus, the walls with split bamboo, and the outside with straw. A topknot finishes the apex.

Straw thatch was vulnerable to moisture. Roofs were sloped to shed rain, damaged straw was replaced regularly and old straw was reused as crop fertiliser.

The compound

The rugo is also the whole homestead: a bamboo fence encloses a front courtyard (urugo) used to keep livestock, with a central hearth (igicaniro) whose smoke kept flies off the animals, and a rear courtyard (ikigo). A post (icishinzo) was set up for cattle to rub against.

Building practice

Builders gathered materials (guhumbira) through the rainy season and built in the dry season. The household head called helpers (kurarika abubatsi), usually 20 to 30 people, who split into a roof team and a wall team.

Relationship to neighbouring forms

The rugo belongs to the family of beehive and domed grass houses of the Great Lakes region, alongside Rwanda's thatched houses (nyakatsi) and the great thatched dome of the Ganda royal tombs at Kasubi in Uganda.