Sights in Constantine
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Palace of Ahmed Bey
Hajj Ahmed became bey or ruler of Constantine in 1826, and started building his new palace 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. Ahmed’s enjoyment of this wonderful place was short-lived because two years after he moved in, the French chased him out and turned the palace into their headquarters. After independence the Algeri…
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Grand Mosque
Constantine is graced with Souk el-Ghazal Mosque and several other beautiful mosques, but these 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. Although it has been rebuilt over the centuries and has a modern façade, the interior has retained some of its original features, including some pillars and Corinthian capitals brought from Hippo Regius. The city’s most prominent monument – you will see its twin 107m high minarets as you approach the centre – is the Mosque of Emir Abdelkader. The pro…
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Cirta Museum
The city doesn’t have much to show for its illustrious past, but the colonial-period 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’. Also worth seeing is the beautifully cast bronze sculpture of winged ‘Victory of Constantine’, found by soldiers while excavating the streets of the casbah in 1855. If you are planning a visit to the Roman sit…
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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.
Unfortunately, in recent years this bridge (and the others around town) have become popular for suicides, as it seems that the majority of Constantine's suicides are people jumping off the bridges.
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Mellah Slimane Bridge & Lift
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 train station with the centre of the old town. Eight years in the making, it was opened in 1925 and is heavily used today, so much so that you will feel it swing and wobble as you cross the centrepoint. Steep steps lead up from the bridge to street level on the city side. A lift will save your legs.
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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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