The third of Timbuktu's UNESCO World Heritage mosques, built in 1400 and named for the city's patron saint, a Malian scholar of immense local reputation. Smaller and less visited than Djingareyber and Sankore, it sits in the heart of the old city and is the most intimate of the three.
Like the other mosques, Sidi Yahya is built in mud-brick Sudano-Sahelian style and is maintained through annual community replastering. Non-Muslims cannot enter, but the exterior and immediate surroundings are accessible. The mosque is near the Timbuktu Museum, which provides useful context for the Islamic scholarly tradition that made Timbuktu famous.