Roofing in Comoros

The Comoros is a volcanic archipelago between Madagascar and Mozambique, with Grande Comore (Ngazidja), Anjouan (Ndzuani) and Moheli (Mwali). Its historic towns belong to the Swahili building tradition of the East African coast, with stone palaces, mosques and fortifications.

Climate and hazards

The islands lie in the cyclone-prone south-west Indian Ocean.

Roofing history

The historic medinas of the Comoros date from the 12th to the 16th centuries and represent a distinct local form of Swahili civilisation, with royal palaces, religious buildings, fortifications and public squares along narrow streets. The sultanates that built them governed from about the 14th to the 19th century. Moroni, on Grande Comore, has a medina with an old Friday Mosque. At Iconi, only old walls of local stone remain of the old palace, and at Ntsoudjini the town wall survives in good condition though its gates are gone.

The medinas were placed on the national Tentative List in 2007 and were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2026, at the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, as The Medinas of the Historic Sultanates of the Comoros, under criteria (iii) and (iv). It is the country's first World Heritage property, a serial site of six historic cities on Ngazidja (Grande Comore) and Ndzuwani (Anjouan), among them the medinas of Moroni, Itsandra and Iconi.

Traditional and vernacular roofs

The stone architecture of the medinas follows Swahili practice; see Roofing in East Africa for the related coral-stone and palm-thatch traditions of the coast.

Notable roofs

• The Medinas of the Historic Sultanates of the Comoros (UNESCO 2026): six historic cities on Ngazidja and Ndzuwani, including Moroni, Itsandra and Iconi.
• Ujumbe palace, Anjouan: a sultan's palace that has been the subject of restoration work.

Sources and gaps

Everyday roofs is very limited. Published information on specific roof hazard data: published information is limited. Descriptions of Comorian vernacular roofs were not found in published sources. No national roofing standard was identified. No information on roofing manufacturers was found in published sources. No Shikomori roofing terms were found.

Roof materials of Comorian houses (stone, palm or metal), census or survey data, building rules and the names of all six inscribed cities: published information is limited.