“The Great Mosque of Algiers An architectural masterpiece and a religious and cultural building

The Great Mosque of Algiers, inaugurated on Sunday by the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, is an architectural masterpiece and a religious and cultural edifice that unites the nation and preserves national authority and identity. This vast building, with all its details inspired by the Islamic and Andalusian architectural heritage, will contribute to the preservation of the national religious identity, as well as being a comprehensive spiritual and cultural landmark.
Located in the municipality of Mohammedia, in the heart of Algiers, this huge building includes a large prayer hall that covers an area of 20,000 square meters and can accommodate more than 120,000 worshippers. This hall is beautifully decorated and includes distinctive marble pillars and a large mihrab made of marble and multicolored plaster. Artistic touches reflect authentic Algerian decoration. The prayer hall and various buildings of the Algiers Grand Mosque are decorated with 6 km of Arabic calligraphy.
The engineering design of the Grand Mosque of Algiers, based on anti-seismic standards with the ability to absorb 70 percent of the intensity of the earthquake, was based on a traditional style characterized by the strong presence of columns decorated with bright white marble, which is the foundation of the building.
On the other hand, the mosque includes the largest minaret in the world, exceeding 265 meters and supports 60 meters deep. The minaret consists of 43 floors, 15 of which were allocated as space to host a museum related to the history of Algeria and floors as a research center in addition to commercial shops. A telescope was also placed at the top so that visitors to the site could enjoy the beauty of the capital bay.
The Grand Mosque of Algiers, which is considered the third largest mosque in the world after the Grand Mosque of Mecca and the Holy Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, includes several bodies organized in accordance with executive decrees and basic laws that dealt with the issue of establishing and managing its various structures, such as the Scientific Council and the National Higher School of Islamic Sciences “Dar Al-Qur’an”. At the beginning of this year, it organized the first Ph.D. competition, which resulted in the victory of 82 candidates. This competition was held under the joint pedagogical supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Deanship of the University of Algiers.
The school’s mission is to provide high quality and specialized training for graduates of training, educational and higher qualification institutions in the field of humanities and social sciences, to improve the level and renew the knowledge of employees and managers in the religious affairs and endowments sector, in addition to establishing exchange and cooperation relations with national and international institutions in its field of competence.
From this perspective, the work of the Center for Research in Religious Sciences and Dialogue of Civilizations falls, which undertakes specialized research and studies in this field and prepares scientific research programs and studies related to the promotion of the values of moderation, moderation and tolerance, the consolidation of national religious authority, the revival of religious heritage, and everything related to astronomical calculations, setting legal times and Islamic banking and other issues related to this field.
The library of the Grand Mosque, for its part, seeks to valorize and promote the components of Islamic civilization in a way that supports the national religious authority and serves the cultural mission of the mosque, not to mention its role in establishing a laboratory for the restoration of manuscripts and establishing cooperation and exchange relations with similar cultural and scientific institutions at the national and international levels.
In addition to the aforementioned structures, the grand mosque includes a national public museum named “Museum of Islamic Civilization in Algeria”, which constitutes a space for the expression of the historical stages that established the national religious authority, the religious and cultural heritage, the authentic traditions of Algeria, Islamic architecture and art, and the history of the writing and printing of the Holy Qur’an.
This museum is responsible for collecting and inventorying the museum treasures related to its field of specialization. It will also ensure their preservation, restoration and evaluation by exhibiting and presenting them in all forms and means.
In addition, the Grand Mosque has an urban security headquarters that includes public security, judicial police and general police teams, in addition to social structures designed to house police officers responsible for the security of visitors to the mosque and all its facilities and rooms.
The Grand Mosque also has a designated place for helicopters to land, a car hangar that can accommodate four thousand cars, built on two floors, in the basement, and a large courtyard surrounded by several gardens and ponds.