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Djemaa el-Djedid
Colonial French town planners cleared many Ottoman buildings when they redesigned the Algiers waterfront and laid out what is now the Place des Martyrs, but they left the Djemaa el-Djedid. Contrary to its name, the New Mosque, sometimes also called the Pêcherie Mosque, was built in 1660 on the site of an earlier Koranic school and paid for by public subscription.
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Djemaa el-Kebir
A few steps from the Djemma el-Djedid, the Djemaa el-Kebir, the 'Grand Mosque', continues a tradition that goes back to the early history of Algiers. On a rise above the inner port, early Berber and Phoenician inhabitants built places of prayer here, which the Romans turned into a temple; later they were converted into a Christian basilica. One apse of the basilica faced east and was hung with carpets and icons.
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Djemaa Ketchoua
Of all the central Algiers mosques the Djemaa Ketchoua has had the most turbulent history. Its exact date of construction is not known, but it is estimated as being some time at the beginning of the 17th century and certainly before the Djemaa el-Djedid. Its name translates as place or plateau of goats, a reminder of the time when this space - between the port and citadel - was open ground. It was remodelled in 1794 by Hassan Pasha, when he built his palace next door.
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Djemma Ali Bitchine
In the rough days of Algerian piracy, when a man might be snatched off a ship in the high sea and given a choice of slavery or conversion, there were many so-called renegades, people around the Mediterranean who changed religion. Ali Bitchine was one. A sailor from Venice, his original name may have been Piccinino. Whoever he had been in Italy, in Algiers he was a sailor who rose to become a grand admiral of the fleet. In 1622 he built the Djemma Ali Bitchine.
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Notre Dame d'Afrique
The Byzantine-inspired Notre Dame d'Afrique, known locally as Madame Afrique, sits above the bustle of the city, seemingly impervious to the fact that the people who created it and filled its pews have long gone. The idea for the church is said to have come from two women of Lyon, who missed the shrine that sits above their native city and who placed a statue of the virgin in the hollow of an olive tree on the north of the city.
Showing 1-5 of 5 results
