The marble portico
Columns from the demolished Es-Sayida mosque.
Benzita Abdelhadi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Habib kaki — CC0 · habib kaki — CC BY 3.0 · Benzita Abdelhadi — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Riad Hadjsadok — CC BY-SA 4.0
Djamaa El Kebir, whose name means the Great Mosque, is generally regarded as the oldest mosque in Algiers. A Kufic inscription on its wooden minbar gives 1 Rajab 490 AH, June 1097, in the reign of the Almoravid emir Yusuf ibn Tashfin. With the great mosques of Tlemcen and Nedroma, it is one of three Almoravid mosques standing in Algeria, and lies within the Casbah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1992. The Zayyanid sultan Abu Tashfin I of Tlemcen added the square minaret in the early 1320s; a marble plaque by its door records the dates, then verses where the tower praises its own beauty. French bombardments in 1682 and 1683 destroyed the mihrab, rebuilt in the 18th century. In the 1830s the French added a portico of marble columns under scalloped arches, from the demolished Es-Sayida mosque on today's Place des Martyrs. An arcaded courtyard of about 21 by 11 metres leads to the prayer hall, eleven aisles divided by horseshoe arches on whitewashed piers. The wider central aisle, lined with lobed arches, ends at the mihrab with its two small spiral columns. Blind arched niches and blue-and-white tiles from a colonial-era restoration face the minaret. It stands on Rue des Almoravides, east of Place des Martyrs towards the harbour, about 200 m from the square's metro station. Come between prayers, avoid Friday prayer and allow 20 to 40 minutes. Djamaa El Djedid lies about 100 m west, Ketchaoua Mosque 300 m west and the Palace of the Raïs (Bastion 23) 350 m north, as the crow flies.
Columns from the demolished Es-Sayida mosque.
A marble plaque in verse by its door.
Eleven aisles of horseshoe and lobed arches.
Rue des Almoravides, lower Casbah, by Place des Martyrs
Djamaa El Djedid (Algiers)Djamaa El Djedid, the New Mosque, stands on the eastern edge of Place des Martyr1 minute walk
Ketchaoua MosqueOne of Algeria's best-known and most symbolic mosques, at the foot of the Casbah4 minutes walk4.8
Palace of the Raïs (Bastion 23)The Palace of the Raïs, also called Bastion 23, is a seafront group of three Ott4 minutes walk
The CasbahThe old city of Algiers and its historic heart, its tightly packed white houses 6 minutes walk4.6In the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts in Algiers. The carved wooden pulpit ran on wheels: it was kept in a side room by the mihrab and rolled into the hall for sermons, and its rails are still set in that room's floor.
Travel guides say it is normally open to non-Muslim visitors outside prayer times and suggest going with a local guide. It is a working mosque, so keep your voice low and ask before taking photos.