Constantine Sights

  1. Cirta Museum

    The city doesn't have much to show for its illustrious past, but the colonial-period Cirta Museum has proof enough. The collection comes from excavations in the city and nearby Tiddis and with the displays being something of a jumble, it appears as an old-style 'cabinet of curiosities'. But there are some stunning pieces, the highlights include a seated terracotta figure from a 2nd-century BC tomb and an exquisite marble bust of a woman known as the 'beauty of Djemila'.

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  2. Grand Mosque

    Constantine is graced with several other beautiful mosques, but these, as all others, are only open to Muslims. The oldest, and one of the most visible, is the Grand Mosque. Built in the 13th century on the site of a pagan temple, it was intended, as the Friday mosque, to hold most of the city's population.

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  3. Mellah Slimane Bridge

    Of all the dramatic bridges that cross the Oued Rhumel, none is as exciting to walk across as the Mellah Slimane Bridge, some 100m above the water. Stretching 125m long and a mere 2.5m wide, it joins the railway station with the centre of the old town.

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  4. Monument to the Dead

    Just beyond the Sidi M'Cid bridge, on a hill of the same name, stands the Monument to the Dead. It was built specifically for the people of Constantine, from Alfred Abdilla to Jacob Zitoun who died 'Pro Patria', the country being France, not Algeria. The monument is a copy of the arch of Trajan at Timgad. The statue of winged Victory that tops the monument is an enlarged replica of the bronze sculpture in the Cirta Museum.

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  5. Palace of Ahmed Bey

    Hajj Ahmed became bey or ruler of Constantine in 1826, and started building the Palace of Ahmed Bey two years later. Progress was slow, partly due to objections of the more powerful dey of Algiers, but Ahmed finally occupied his new home in 1835. Beyond the high white walls lies one of the finest Ottoman-era buildings in the country. With a series of courtyards surrounded by tiled arcades, it is filled with gardens of olive and orange trees, and decorated with Tunisian and French tiles.

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  6. Sidi M'Cid Bridge

    The Sidi M'Cid Bridge is Constantine's iconic monument, its image defining the city. It is a 164m-long suspension bridge, opened to traffic in April 1912. The bridge links the casbah to the slopes of Sidi M'Cid hill. Views of town and the gorge 175m below you are stunning and, in spite of movement, the bridge is quite safe; in 2000 twelve of its cables were replaced.

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