About
Is a Catholic basilica in Algiers, Algeria.
Pope Pius IX granted two Pontifical decrees towards the shrine on the same day in 15 April 1876
The first decree invoked to canonically crown the venerated Marian image enshrined within. The rite of coronation was executed by the Archbishop of Carthage Charles Lavigerie on 30 April 1876.
The second decree which raised the sanctuary to the status of Basilica based on an “immemorial custom”. (Pope Benedict XV later regulated to limit these privileges in 1918 to Papal edicts unless an ancient custom already refers to a building as a “Basilica”.
It was Louis-Antoine-Augustin Pavy, who served as the Bishop of Algiers from 1846 to 1866, who paved the way for its construction. The basilica was inaugurated in 1872, after fourteen years of construction. It was founded by Charles Lavigerie Its architect, Jean-Eugène Fromageau, who had been appointed the chief architect for ecclesiastical buildings in French Algeria in 1859, employed a Neo-Byzantine style. Its floor plan is unusual as the choir is situated on the southeast instead of the usual east side of the building.