About
The Great Mosque or Great Mosque of Algiers is an architectural masterpiece located in the center of the wilaya of Algiers, and is the largest mosque in Algeria and the third largest mosque in the world. The mosque was distinguished by a unique architectural design on the Andalusian character, where decorations, inscriptions, arches and pointed ceilings, and was decorated from the inside with Islamic artwork from beautiful Arabic manuscripts written on marble and wood from the verses of the Holy Quran, while the floor of the prayer hall was furnished with a turquoise carpet on the Algerian character with traditional floral inscriptions. The mosque building includes a prayer hall, a huge library and Quran memorization centers.
The mosque includes 12 separate buildings in a site that extends over 20 hectares with an area of more than 400 thousand m², and it is anti-earthquake and attached to it parking spaces that accommodate 4 thousand cars and the area of the prayer hall in it is more than two hectares (22 thousand m²), can accommodate more than 36.000 worshipers and it is possible with the use of outdoor spaces to accommodate about 120.000 worshipers, and one of its distinctive features is the presence of the minaret will also be a lighthouse for ships with a height of up to 265 m and a dome with a diameter of 50 and a height of 70 meters, and it will also include A school for teaching the Qur'an, a library and a museum of Islamic art and history, a research center on the history of Algeria, a conference hall and gardens with fruit trees, worshipers can reach the mosque in several ways, whether by car, tram or even boat due to its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea and Wadi El Harrach, and will connect to a marina on the sea coast through two corridors.
Its construction has continued since the foundation stone of the project was laid in 2012 and is expected to be completed in late 2018 at an estimated cost of one billion and 350 million dollars (under completion), while the preparation study to start the completion of the mosque began in 2008.
The Algiers Mosque contains a dome with a diameter of 50 meters, which is in the middle of the prayer hall in which the functional and aesthetic aspect is mixed, it is made up of an internal and external cover, from the inside it is a modern reading of the traditional 'muqarnas' dome derived from Islamic architecture, especially in the Almoravid era, allowing the succession of flat and circular spaces, and from the outside its dome was covered with decorative mashrabiya clowns that highlight the inner face of the dome according to traditional engineering, and according to the model of the Algiers Mosque, the prayer hall 'decorated with marble and natural stone' was crowned with a great dome with Two walls containing openings that allow natural light to pass through the hall as illuminated by its lights at night, the height of the mosque after the completion of the dome will be about 45 meters.