A REDEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL FOR THE ATTAH IGALA’S PALACE IDAH, KOGI STATE: AN ATTEMPT AT DOCUMENTING IGALA TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE
A REDEVELOPMENT PROPOSAL FOR THE ATTAH IGALA’S PALACE IDAH, KOGI STATE: AN ATTEMPT AT DOCUMENTING IGALA TRADITIONAL ARCHITECTURE
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Date
2000-12
Authors
EDEGBO, ENOCH BOBBY
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Abstract
A Palace is defined as a large grand house where a ruling king or queen
officially lives. A palace is designed to serve not just the residential needs of
the king or ruler but also serve as an administrative centre and for various
social and religious/ritual ceremonies. The palace is also a symbol of
authority in any given society, it serve as a source of pride, identity and
grandeur. The palace expressed the spiritual and temporal powers of a
ruler.
In the Igala kingdom, the Attah of Igala who is the traditional,
spiritual and political ruler of the Igala people is considered divine and
therefore held in high esteem. The present Attah Igala, Agabaidu Alhaji
(Dr.) Aliyu Ochcja Obaje, CBE, CON, came to the throne in 1956 as the 26lh
Attah in the recorded history with Queen Ebulcjonu as the first. Becausc of
the Attah’s status in the society, that is the political and spiritual ruler of the
Igala race, and by extension, chairman, Kogi State Council of Traditional
Rulers (first class ruler), the need to re-design his present palace to
something befitting, cannot be over-emphasized.
This thesis seeks to propose a redevelopment for the Allah’s palace.
This is because the structures within the present palace site at Idah are
dilapidated, inadequate and lacked proper planning pattern and to a larger
extent, the palace docs not reflect the planning pattern of the Igala race. The
Allah’s palace also does not reflect the identity of an Igala palace and lacked
grandeur.
To correct these lapses listed above, this research attempts a
documentation of
Igala traditional architecture, which covers; site selection, adoption of firm,
site layout and planning pattern. Existing palaces were also visited and
critically assessed to aid in the proposed redevelopment of the Attah’s
palace. The palaces visited are:
1) . The Oba of Benin’s Palace, Benin, Edo State.
2) . The Deji of Akurc’s Palace, Ondo State.
3) . The Emir of Zaria’s Palace, Zaria, Kaduna State.
4) . The Emir of Kano’s Palace, Kano State.
5) . The existing Attah Igala’s Palace, Idah Kogi State.
The palaces listed above apart from the Attah’s palace are reflections
of the peoples’ traditional style of architecture. That is the palaces
demonstrates the planning pattern of the people they represent and reflects
their various pattern of decorations in forms of reliefs and motifs. Also the
palace buildings symbolise power and grandeur in terms of size and
elaborate designs and decorations.
To this end, this thesis seeks to demonstrate the planning concept of
Igala traditional compound layout in the new palace redevelopment
proposal, in which the ‘Alakpa’ (common lounge) is centrally located within
the compound with other sleeping quarters arranged around and facing the
‘Atakpa. The researcher also borrows concepts from the Ejubejuilo mask
(the Atlah’s symbol of power and authority) and the Ikeleku Afiuma mask
(one of the nine royal masks). These mask concepts are reflected in both the
planning layout of the palace and on the elevations of the palace design.
The re-development proposal of the Attah’s palace is being carried
out so as to restore pride and identity to the Attah’s palace in particular and
the Igala race in general. The new palace which would be a modern design
would be able to combine residential, administrative and various
religious/ritual ceremonies effectively. The research also covers the
historical background of the Attahship and the Igala people.
Description
A thesis submitted to the Postgraduate School, Ahmadu Bello
University, Zaria, in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the
award of the degree of Master of
Science in Architecture
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE FACULTY OF
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY
ZARIA, NIGERIA
DECEMBER, 2000
Keywords
REDEVELOPMENT,, PROPOSAL,, ATTAH IGALA’S,, KOGI STATE,, DOCUMENTING,, TRADITIONAL,, ARCHITECTURE