This is widely called the largest mosque in Africa, and its minaret is the tallest in the world.
It is Djamaa el Djazaïr, the Great Mosque of Algiers, on the Mediterranean coast of Algeria.
In 2008, a German architecture consortium won the international design competition. A Chinese company built it, and construction began in 2012.
The prayer hall covers more than twenty thousand square metres and holds over thirty thousand worshippers, beneath a dome fifty metres wide and seventy metres high.
The complex holds a library, a museum of Islamic art, and a Quranic school. It was officially inaugurated in February 2024.
So is it really the largest in Africa? Some sources list a newer mosque in Egypt with a bigger total capacity once its courtyards are counted. The answer depends on what you measure.
The project to provide the capital Algiers with a grand mosque was presented as an initiative of the former Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika to mark his presidential mandates.
The German consortium that designed the Djamaa el Djazaïr consisted of architectural firms KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten and Krebs und Kiefer until 2016. This German consortium won the international architectural competition for the project in January 2008, and the contract was signed in July 2008 for the execution in the presence of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The commission included general design and execution studies for all disciplines, as well as monitoring and control of the construction works of the Djamaa el Djazaïr. The design team consisted of over 100 architects and engineers. In 2007, the engineering and construction company Dessau-Soprin obtained the project management contract.
The Chinese company China State Construction Engineering (CSCEC) was tasked with the construction of the Djamaa el Djazaïr. The first concrete foundation casting operations began on 16 August 2012, after a launching ceremony. The construction was expected to create 17,000 jobs, with 10,000 workers from China and 7,000 from Algeria.
The French engineering firm Socotec later joined the project. The French consulting firm Egis oversaw the construction from February 2016 to verify the additional plans provided by CSCEC.
Djamaa el Djazaïr was financed by the Algerian state with an initial budget of one billion euros (approximately US$1.5 billion). The official cost of the mosque was $898 million. The construction took seven years.
The construction was criticized for its monumental aspect and its expensive costs. Despite some criticisms, the inauguration and the first prayer inside the mosque attracted a large crowd of Algerian faithful.
Architecture and design
The architecture of the mosque is based on square geometry combining modern and traditional styles. It evokes the oldest type of mosque, with colonnades opening upwards like a flower while providing space for technical conduits.
The mosque sits on a site covering 27.75 hectares (68.6 acres) and overlooks the Mediterranean Sea. The prayer hall has a capacity of 37,000 worshippers, while the structure including the compound can house up to 120,000 worshippers and has parking space for 7,000 cars. The complex also houses a Quran school, a park, a library, staff housing area, a fire station, a museum of Islamic art, and a research center on the history of Algeria.
The mosque also has a 265-metre-tall (869 ft) minaret, the tallest in the world, which due to containing office space also meets the definition of a building, and was the tallest building in Africa until overtaken in 2024 by the Iconic Tower in Egypt's New Administrative Capital. It also houses an observation deck atop the minaret, which has 37 floors. The mosque is designed to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 and the structure has been specially processed to resist corrosion. The main prayer hall has 618 octagonal columns serving as support pillars and 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) of calligraphy engraved with a laser system. The dome of the prayer hall has a diameter of 50 metres (160 ft) and rises to a height of 70 metres (230 ft).
Today and visiting
Several roads and other means of access lead to Djamaâ El Djazaïr from the Algiers suburbs. It can be accessed by car via the northern ring road of Algiers, taking the Mohammadia/Grande Mosque exit.
The Algiers tramway provides access via the Pont El Harrach and Bellevue stations, located within a 10-minute walking distance of the mosque. The ETUSA bus line B19 passes near the mosque, which can connect it to the metro line M1 or to the Algiers commuter rail network via the Caroubier station. It will soon be possible to access the mosque by boat via the Algiers Marina project, north of the mosque, where a maritime terminal will be built. The mosque also has a helipad.
The History, Architecture and later sections are adapted from the Wikipedia article “Djamaa el Djazaïr”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the full article. Text has been shortened.
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