Architecture sights in Algeria
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Cours de la Révolution
Bône la Coquette (the Elegant) they used to call it, and the centre of town has retained some of its charms, if a little jaded. The Cours de la Révolution was the centrepiece of the French city and remains the bustling heart today.
A long, broad street, its lanes separated by a broad, tree-shaded esplanade, it also boasts the city's most elaborate architecture, where, with buildings such as the Amphorae and the Lion & Caryatid, colonial architects vied to outdo each other in the extravagance of their facades. In the middle, palms and giant fig trees provide shade for a number of popular outdoor cafés, where the city's elderly and idle while away the day.
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A
Bey's Mosque
Rue des Frères Boucherit leads off the Cours, to the Pl du 19 Aout 1956, the centrepoint of the old town, some of it dating back to the 16th century, when the pirate Kheireddin Barbarossa claimed Annaba for the Ottoman sultan. The streets here are more narrow and the houses less elaborate. There is a small second-hand and food market in the square most days. The Bey's Mosque, built soon after Barbarossa had taken the town, looks over the square and is the largest in this part of town.
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Pasha’s Mosque
The Pasha’s Mosque, below the western side of the Chateau Neuf, was built in 1797, as its foundation inscription attests, by ‘the great, the elevated, the respectable and useful, our master Sidi Hassan Bacha’. In better condition than the palace, it reflects in its elegance and lightness the joy at the city’s liberation from foreign rule.
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B
Mosque of Sidi Bel Hassan
The 12th century Mosque of Sidi Bel Hassan, built in 1297 by the son of the noted local ruler Yaghmorassen, was dedicated to a local holy man. The squares are busy throughout the day, particularly after prayers, when the cafés are busy and men sit under the shade trees. Northwest of here, at the end of rue Docteur ben Zerdjeb, is the lively Kissaria, the market area.
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C
Mosque of Sidi Bou Merouane
More interesting than the Bey's Mosque is the Mosque of Sidi Bou Merouane, 250m away, reached via a steep climb up the street. Named after an 11th-century holy man, the mosque is smaller than the Bey's but built using columns and stones from Hippo.
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