Famous Landmarks in Algiers
A mosque built in 1612 turned cathedral, then mosque again, faces a 1982 war memorial.
Algiers' landmarks span roughly three centuries and three ruling orders. The Ketchaoua Mosque, raised in 1611–1612 at the foot of the Casbah's steep stairways under Ottoman rule, was seized after the French conquest and rebuilt as a cathedral between 1845 and 1860 before reverting to a mosque at independence in 1962; its façade still mixes Moorish and Byzantine details. Notre-Dame d'Afrique, a Byzantine Revival basilica completed in 1872 under French colonial administration, held a canonically crowned Marian image within a few years of finishing. The Martyrs' Memorial, a concrete monument of three standing palm leaves opened in 1982, marks two decades of independence and the war that won it, giving the skyline its newest and most political structure.
Martyrs' Memorial
1982 · Bachir Yellès
Three towering concrete forms shaped like standing palm leaves lean together over an eternal flame, with a bronze soldier statue guarding the base of each leaf.
The Martyrs' Memorial is a concrete monument commemorating the Algerian War. It opened on 5 July 1982, exactly twenty years after Algeria's independence was declared. The design takes the form of three standing palm leaves that lean together to shelter an "Eternal Flame" beneath them. At the edge of each leaf stands a statue of a soldier, each representing a different stage of the independence struggle. Bachir Yellès designed the monument.
- It opened on 5 July 1982, exactly twenty years to the day after Algeria's independence was declared in 1962.
Photo: Poudou99 (CC BY 3.0)
Ketchaoua Mosque
1612
Its façade blends Moorish and Byzantine details, standing right where the first of many steep stone stairways climbs into the old walled quarter above it.
Completed in 1611/1612 during Ottoman rule, this mosque stands at the foot of the Casbah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on the first of its many steep stairways. Its architecture fuses Moorish and Byzantine elements. In 1831 Muslims were evicted under French rule, and by 1832 it had been converted into the Cathedral of St Philippe; the structure was demolished and rebuilt entirely between 1845 and 1860, remaining a cathedral until 1962, when independence returned it to use as a mosque.
- The building was not merely reconsecrated but demolished and rebuilt from scratch as a cathedral between 1845 and 1860.
- It served as the Cathedral of St Philippe for 130 years before becoming a mosque again in 1962.
Photo: Rachid Hamatou (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Notre-Dame d'Afrique
1872 · Jean-Eugène Fromageau
Built in the Byzantine Revival style, the basilica shelters a canonically crowned image of the Virgin that gave rise to the devotion known as Our Lady of Africa.
This Catholic basilica, designed by Jean-Eugène Fromageau in the Byzantine Revival style, was completed in 1872. Four years later, on 15 April 1876, Pope Pius IX issued two decrees concerning it: one authorised the canonical coronation of the venerated Marian image enshrined inside, carried out by the Archbishop of Carthage on 30 April 1876; the other raised the sanctuary to the rank of basilica on the grounds of "immemorial custom." It became the origin of the modern Catholic devotion to Our Lady of Africa.
- Its 1876 promotion to basilica rested on a claim of "immemorial custom" rather than a papal decree alone — a route Pope Benedict XV closed off for other churches in 1918.
- The coronation of the image inside was carried out by the Archbishop of Carthage, not a local cleric.
Photo: Magharebia (CC BY 2.0)
History
Algiers began as a Phoenician trading settlement between roughly 1200 and 250 BC, then passed through Numidian, Roman and Islamic rule before Buluggin ibn Ziri formally founded the city in 972. It became capital of the Ottoman Regency in 1516, and under Ottoman rule the Ketchaoua Mosque rose at the foot of the Casbah in 1611–1612. French forces took the city in 1830; Muslims were evicted from the mosque the following year, and by 1832 it had become the Cathedral of St Philippe, entirely rebuilt between 1845 and 1860. Colonial Algiers also built outward, adding the Byzantine Revival basilica of Notre-Dame d'Afrique in 1872. Independence in 1962 returned the cathedral to a mosque, and twenty years later the Martyrs' Memorial rose to commemorate the war that had won it.