ABSTRACT
Within the precincts of the Palace, a microcosm in itself, there were at one time two structures, the tukuri and the guti, both remarkable for their symbolism. These two monuments were erected for an essentially religious purpose, and considerations of a practical nature played no part in their construction. Each illustrates a myth, associating them thus with the origin of the world and establishing them as guarantors of universal order. A superstructure of tukuri, is all that remains of the two living-rooms where the rulers live after their enthroning ceremony for a variable length of time and also during Ramadan. Unlike the former construction, the guti is in ruins; it is said that it collapsed several generations ago; the first European travellers to come to Logone-Birni do not mention it. It was in order to re-establish normal relations with the celestial powers that one of the first Logone-Birni kings built this edifice in the image of the anvil.
