Treasures of Antiquity
Seduced by the fertile soils of Constantine, the Romans left numerous archaeological remains that attest to the town's urban development. Antiquity was marked by the Berber-Numid kingdoms, whose traces can be found in tombs and mausoleums (bazinas, Médracen or the Tomb of the Christian) and a few ruined towns such as the ancient city of Tiddis, 30 km from Constantine. Built into a staircase on a hill, Tiddis or "Castellum Tidditanorum" is an architectural and technical treasure trove. Before our astonished eyes, three thousand years have passed, during which several civilizations have succeeded one another, each leaving a profound imprint. It was French archaeologist André Berthier who, in 1940, discovered Tiddis, an advanced Roman fortress built to protect Cirta (now Constantine) from foreign attack. From the Punic era, when it was called Taddart or Ras Eddar, remains a bazina, a circular common tomb typical of the Numidian period, dolmens, funerary monuments, Libyan inscriptions and symbols on pottery testify to the presence of an ancient Berber civilization before the Romans laid out the city according to their urbanization plan. A typically Roman triumphal arch symbolizes the entrance to the fortress-city, and the cardo (network of streets), with its well-preserved paving, runs alongside two temples dedicated to Roman divinities. Admire the remains of the oil mill, the craftsmen's quarters and the grain mill, which tell the story of the city's daily life. Particularly impressive are the cisterns and the large reservoir that supplied the inhabitants with water.
South of Constantine, in the wilaya of Batna in the Aurès mountains, Timgad, the ancient Thamugadi founded in 100 AD, also preserves traces of Roman civilization. Despite two thousand years of existence, the ruins of this site have been miraculously preserved. Nicknamed the "African Pompeii", this Unesco-listed masterpiece of Roman urban planning bears witness to the daily life of a city built as a retreat for the Roman military. See the thermal baths, the theater, the market, the library and the forum (the smallest ever built). On the forum's stone slab, you'll find a summary of the city's gentle way of life: "Venari, lavari, ludere, ridere, hoc est vivere", which translates as "Hunting, bathing, playing, laughing, that's living". It's easy to imagine the old soldiers of the Roman Empire enjoying a well-deserved retirement here.
50 km northeast of Sétif, Djemila (ancient Cuicul), founded by the Roman emperor Nerva (96-98), bears exceptional witness to the Roman presence in North Africa. Between the 2nd and 6th centuries, the city continued to evolve, escaping Roman geometric rigor and offering visitors a remarkable architectural repertoire. The city had a forum and a senate. Take a look at the triumphal arch, the edifices of the state and the theater. Stop off at the Cosinus market, which illustrates the city's economic prosperity. The site was also marked by various Christian places of worship: a church, its baptistery (one of the largest of the Paleochristian period) and a cathedral. Cuicul's inhabitants led a peaceful existence until it was abandoned in the 6th century. The city gradually fell into oblivion. Local tradition has it that Abu al-Muhajir Dinar, Emir of Ifriqiya, captured Cuicul in the last quarter of the 7th century.
From the 7th century, the splendors of Islam
From the 7th century onwards, Islam left its mark on the architecture of the Maghreb with the construction of towns tightly enclosed within defensive ramparts, where the center was marked by the market and the mosque, of which there are still some magnificent examples. In the M'Zab valley, the mosque serves as the social center. Arab towns, medinas, which often no longer exist, were traditionally organized around the souk or bazaar, the market. This is where the main streets ended, branching out into cul-de-sacs and alleys the width of a loaded donkey.
Mosques. In western Algeria, the ancient Berber city of Nedroma is thought to have been built in the 11th century. It was an important cultural and craft center in this area, which was undergoing Arabization and Islamization. The Great Mosque of Nedroma, which dates back to the Almoravid era, was built in 1145 by the prince of the Almoravid Berber dynasty, Tachfin ben Ali. This edifice conferred religious dignity and political power on the city. Like other Almoravid mosques in the Maghreb, the Great Mosque is in the Andalusian style (like the Great Mosque of Cordoba or Damascus) and features nine balatat (naves) perpendicular to the qibla wall, which extend along the short sides of the rectangular sahn (courtyard) with wide riwaq (galleries). The mihrâb (sanctuary) consists of a polygonal niche. The sparseness of the mosque's exterior contrasts with the richness of its interior decoration, a specificity of the Almoravids, who reserved the refinement of their art for the ornamentation of their buildings. The structure is often simple, as shown here in the Nedroma mosque, built of stone and brick with a wooden framework and a double-pitched roof covered in tiles. The interior features ceramics, plasterwork and carved wooden panels. Originally, the mosque did not have a minaret, as attested by the epigraph engraved on a marble table embedded in the prayer hall, which indicates that the minaret was built in 1348.
The el-Kebir mosque (the Great Mosque) in Algiers was built by the Almoravid Youssef ibn Tachfin in 1097, and is the oldest mosque in Algiers. The minaret was erected in 1324 by the Zianid Sultan of Tlemcen, Abu Tachfin. As with all Almoravid mosques, the rectangular building is wider than it is deep, and covered with double tiled roofs. It is built of stone, brick, tile and wood on a wooden framework. The prayer hall, with side entrances, is divided into eleven balatat supported by sturdy pillars and powerful poly-lobed arches (used by the Andalusians for the Great Mosque of Cordoba) that alternate with broken horseshoe arches in limed masonry, perpendicular to the qiblî wall. Their elegance harmonizes the five bays of Djamâa el-Kebir, which has no cupola. The central nave is magnified by the arches. It leads to the mirhab, decorated simply with ceramics and two spiral columns, typical of18th-century Algiers architecture (the original mihrâb was destroyed in the bombardment of 1682). Part of the Casbah of Algiers, the Great Mosque has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992.
Tlemcen was the capital of central Maghreb in the 11th and 12th centuries, when the city was booming. Ali ben Youssef, caliph of the Berber Almoravid dynasty, decided to build a great mosque here. Its minaret was erected in 1236 by the Zianid sultan Yaghmoracen ibn Ziane. The Great Mosque of Tlemcen is the largest Almoravid monument, framed by seven balatat (naves) extending those of the prayer hall, which is divided into thirteen balatat. As with the Great Mosque of Algiers, the sober, elegant edifice contrasts with richly decorated areas such as the central aisle and the mihrâb, which resembles that of Cordoba with its plaster decoration sculpted with epigraphic and vegetal motifs. In front of the mihrâb, an openwork dome with interlacing ribs diffuses a serrated light. The corbelled layout of the muqarna lantern, with its rows of honeycomb bricks, is one of the earliest examples of a stalactite dome.
These three mosques are the only surviving monuments to the Almoravid dynasty.
Ottoman regency from the 16th century to 1830
In the 16th century, the Spanish conquest and the establishment of an Ottoman regency ushered in a new era in Algerian urban planning, with a new style expressed in houses, mosques and palaces. The Ottoman style from 1516 until the French conquest in 1830 influenced Algerian architecture. When Kheireddine, known as Barbarossa, seized the Spanish fortress of Peñón in 1529, he razed it to the ground and used the stones to build a dyke - today's Kheireddine jetty - which considerably increased the size of the port, and fortified the town.
Religious architecture. The el-Djedid mosque in Algiers' lower Casbah district, nicknamed the "fishing mosque" because of its proximity to the sea, is one of the major buildings of the Ottoman period. It was built by the Muslim master builder al-Hâjj Habîb in 1660 in a combination of Moorish and Ottoman styles. The multiple arches, domes and polychrome compositions in brick and stone bear witness to the Byzantine influence. Admire the magnificent marble minbar, made in Italy, which comes from the al-Sayyida mosque destroyed in 1832.
There are also buildings in Algiers with similar architecture, such as the mosque of Ali-Bitchnin, the "renegade" (Christian converted to Islam), who had his own mosque built in 1622, or the Ketchaoua mosque, built during the Ottoman government in the 17th century in the Casbah of Algiers. Reflecting the many political upheavals in Algeria, the history of this mosque, with its varied architectural influences blending Moorish and Romano-Byzantine styles, is an eventful one. Built in 1436, it was profoundly transformed in the 18th century under the reign of Hassan Pacha, dey of Algiers from 1791 to 1798. Remodeled in 1794, it became a mosque with a large octagonal central dome topped with shells housing a square prayer room and surrounded by small galleries covered with secondary domes, a religious architecture often found in Turkey and Central Asia. After being requisitioned by the French in 1832, the mosque underwent further transformations, becoming Saint-Philippe Cathedral under colonial rule. After Algerian independence in 1962, the cathedral was converted back into a mosque.
Dar and palaces. The old houses of the Casbah, closed to the outside world, seem devoid of decoration. The houses are accessed via a chicane entrance, which allows them to be left open without the possibility of a curious glance entering. The door is large, sometimes monumental, and decorated with colors and symbols designed to ward off the evil eye (hand-shaped knocker, hand printed in fresh plaster, etc.). The house is organized around a wast ed-dar, a central space with a peripheral circulation, an arcaded gallery surrounding the wast ed-dar. To passers-by, the houses have an austere, stark appearance, with no openings other than the door and small windows, which should erase the differences between the houses inhabited by the poorest and those inhabited by wealthy families. It's inside that opulence reveals itself to the visitor. The wealthier the guest, the greater the diversity of materials, the sumptuousness of colors, the richness of arch forms and columns, and the zelidj (ceramic tile) walls. The reception room is the limit for the "foreigner". Most of the house is the wife's domain. The house, generally two-storey, ends on an enclosed terrace where rainwater fills the cisterns. The narrow streets are punctuated by overhanging corbels that ingeniously reclaim the lost street space for the house on the first level, providing shade for passers-by. Among the most beautiful palaces of the Ottoman era are Dar Khedaoudj el-Aâmia, built in the 15th century, Dar Aziza, a 14th-century palace dedicated to the wife of the bey of Constantine, and Dar el-Hamra, built in the 15th century by Mami Arnaute - the dey Hussein lived here before his final departure from Algiers. With its superb carved cedar wood doors, Delft faience sqifa (vestibule) and marble patio basin, the Dar Mustapha Pacha palace in Algiers is a marvel. Built at the end of the 18th century for the dey of the regency of Algiers, Mustapha Pacha, it is one of the most beautiful palaces in Algiers, adorned with 500,000 Sicilian, Spanish, Tunisian and Dutch faience tiles. Finally, on the outskirts of Algiers, the Palais du Peuple (formerly the Palais d'Été) is a must-see. Built at the end of the 18th century, this sumptuous vacation residence first belonged to Khodjet Mustapha el-Kheil (1748-1754), then to Dey Hussein Pacha (1818-1830).
French colonization from 1830 to 1962
In the mid-19th century, the French colonial conquest replaced many of the buildings of Turkish-Venetian inspiration with Western-style constructions. Different periods can be distinguished.
First, the period of conquest, which saw the transformation of Arab-Muslim towns and the creation of colonial towns and villages. As soon as it arrived, the French government transformed Algiers. It created a Place d'Armes (today's Place des Martyrs ) and razed the lower town and its waterfront, the historic center of ancient el-Djezaïr, which were rebuilt in a neoclassical style with blue ironwork and window frames that set off the immaculate white of the facades. The white city has all the attributes of a major French city outside the metropolis.
Located 80 km from Oran, Sidi Bel Abbès was built on the right bank of the Oued Mékerra by legionnaires as early as 1843, following the checkerboard plan drawn up by engineer Captain Prudon. A system of fortifications, Haussmann-style architecture, gates, barracks, military hospital, squares, streets and sewers: the captain had planned for everything. Including the glacis, which clearly separated the residential quarters for Europeans in the city center from the working-class neighborhoods known as "Village nègre" and later "faubourg Bugeaud", and referred to by the locals as "Grâba", reserved for the poor inhabitants. A garrison town for the French Foreign Legion, it was its headquarters until 1962. The Viénot district, also known as the Grand Quartier, the main barracks of the1st Foreign Regiment, was built in the heart of the town. Three tall, narrow buildings of austere architecture surround the square. Around the main barracks, the Petit Quartier, opposite the Quartier Viénot, has long retained its name of Quartier de la Remonte or Quartier de Cavalerie, and is home to the legionnaires' administrative activities. The Cercle Militaire (officers' mess) is one of the oldest military buildings in Sidi Bel Abbès, bringing the town to life. In 1936, this modern, prosperous city, with its complete urban planning and pleasant way of life, inaugurated with great pomp its new theater, the most beautiful and largest in North Africa. Designed by architect Charles Montaland, who drew his inspiration from the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Sidi Bel Abbès theater's Italianate architecture was strongly influenced by Art Deco, which was very much in vogue in Paris at the time.
The period of "colonial triumph" (1860-1890)
It corresponds to the construction of metropolitan-style buildings in major cities. In 1865, Napoleon III and his wife, the Empress Eugénie, inaugurated the Boulevard de l'Impératrice Eugénie on the seafront (later renamed Boulevard de la République and now Boulevard Che Guevara). A 1,500 m long balcony overlooking the sea, with arcaded buildings in the Second Empire style, it was one of the first developments by the French military engineers. Designed by architect Frédéric Chassériau, this maritime boulevard and the boulevard Zirout Youcef (ex-Carnot) resemble the rue de Rivoli in Paris. Algiers follows the Haussmann style of the French capital. The buildings are four to six storeys high, with large windows on ashlar facades, wrought-iron balconies running along the second floor, cornices, caryatids (statue-like mouldings) and balusters. Among the most emblematic buildings are the Banque d'Algérie, the Palais des Assemblées Algériennes and the Opéra (now the Théâtre National Algérien). Behind the waterfront, the Isly district with its cinemas, cafés and department stores grew up.
The neo-Moorish period (early 20th century)
In response to Governor General Jonnart's call for local architecture in administrative buildings, Algiers was gripped by a neo-Moorish wave. These included the former headquarters of the newspaper La Dépêche algérienne (1905), the Grande Poste (1910), the wilaya (former prefecture, 1913) and the Galeries de France (1914). In 1930, to mark the centenary of the colonial presence in Algeria, the Art Deco Hôtel Safir (ex-Aletti) was inaugurated by Charlie Chaplin. The Maison du Millénaire (ex-Centenaire), designed by architect Léon Claro as a replica of a traditional Casbah house, also opened in 1930. Settlers discover the spaces (sqifa, west eddar, byoutes) and decorations that make up an "indigenous house". Marble, earthenware and wood come from the destruction of houses in the lower Casbah. The center of Algiers moved east along boulevard Khémisti (ex-Laferrière), where the modern-style Government Palace was built in 1934 by Jacques Guiauchain and Auguste Perret. The city was spreading out. Urban planners René Danger, Henri Prost and Tony Socard attempted to rationalize space and growth.
Algiers, laboratory of modernity from 1930 to 1960
In the 1930s, Algiers was at the heart of intense architectural debate. It was in this passionate climate that Le Corbusier and the modern movement of the 1930s arrived, followed by the School of Algiers with Pouillon and Perret. As early as 1932, Le Corbusier's Obus plan called for the construction of a business district at La Marine. Among his disciples was Louis Miquel, one of the creators of the Aérohabitat housing unit. Built in 1955 on the model of the "vertical village" of Marseille's Cité radieuse, this concrete giant is a suspended village in the heart of Algiers, built in the form of a bar on stilts. Comprising four buildings with 300 apartments, some of which are duplexes, Aérohabitat also includes a shopping mall. The spine-shaped layout of the two main buildings does not obstruct the view of the apartments above.
After rehabilitating the Vieux-Port in Marseille, Fernand Pouillon was invited to Algeria in 1953 by Jacques Chevallier, the new mayor of Algiers, who asked him to build social housing for Muslim populations: Diar es-Saada, Diar el-Maçoul and Climat de France in Bab el-Oued. In the early 1960s, Fernand Pouillon moved to Algiers. Discovering the architecture of the 10th-century city of M'Zab, Fernand Pouillon had a revelation. He understood the essence of Algerian architecture. This style of urban planning in communion with nature inspired him when he designed the hotel and university structures commissioned by the Algerian state. A case in point is the Hotel M'zab in Ghardaïa, inaugurated in 1972.
From 1962 to the present day, the battle for housing
The 1960s-1970s saw the construction of major hospital, school and hotel facilities, but it was with prefabs or "vite-faits" that the pressing demand for social housing was met, dramatically amplified in the cities by population growth and the rural exodus. In 1958, the French government drew up the "Constantine Plan" (1959-1963), providing for the construction of 200,000 housing units. But in 1962, after independence, faced with the pressure of needs linked to demographic growth and population movements, the Algerian government faced a succession of emergencies. It concentrated its efforts on building new housing, increasing from 15,000 units per year in 1967 to 150,000 units in 1985, 300,000 units in 2008 and 2 to 3 million units since the 2000s. Despite numerous aborted projects, and even if his work is little known in Algeria, the Brazilian Oscar Niemeyer designed the Mentouri university campus in Constantine (1969-1972) and the Houari-Boumediene University of Science and Technology (1972-1974), as well as the sports hall at the Algiers Olympic Center (cupola of the Mohamed-Boudiaf Olympic Complex) and the École polytechnique d'architecture et d'urbanisme (EPAU).
Considered the father of modern Algerian architecture, Abderrahmane Bouchama symbolizes the new beginning of a recovered freedom. He drew inspiration from the Muslim decorative repertoire in a Moorish style blending tradition and modernity. His works include the Supreme Court of Algiers (1963), the National Archives in Birkhadem (1988), the el-Biar Cultural Center (Ben Aknoun), the headquarters of the Ministry of Tourism, as well as the Islamic Institutes in Constantine (1969), Tlemcen (1970) and the Caroubier district (1972). He also built mosques based on the idea of the singing arch, such as those at el-Biar (Place Kennedy) and Hydra.
The Grand Mosque of Algiers. Completed in 2019, it is the largest mosque in Africa and the third largest in the world. Djamaa el-Djazaïr sits majestically by the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean on the Promenade des Sablettes, and is the pride of millions of Algerians. The 20,000m2 prayer hall can accommodate 120,000 worshippers, features 618 octagonal marble columns and is decorated with 6 km of calligraphic script. The prayer hall's 45 m-high roof supports a huge dome 50 m in diameter. Near the dome stands the world's tallest minaret (265 m and forty-three storeys served by panoramic elevators). The mosque was conceived as a beacon of moderate Islam in a country that suffered so much from terrorist Islamism during the "black decade" of the 1990s. The minaret houses various levels, including exhibition spaces, a museum of Islamic art and history, a Quran school "Dar el-Qoran", a library with a million books, as well as a viewing platform over the Bay of Algiers, a shop and a restaurant. Equipped with solar panels and rainwater recycling systems, the Grande Mosquée d'Alger is self-sufficient.
