Djamaa el Djazaïr


Djamaa el Djazaïr, also known as the Great Mosque of Algiers, is a mosque in Algiers, Algeria. It houses the world's tallest minaret and is the third-largest mosque in the world after the Great Mosque of Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi of Medina in Saudi Arabia.

History

The construction of the mosque began in August 2012 after the Algerian government's contract, for 1 billion euros, was won by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation. The design was done by German architects KSP Juergen Engel Architekten and engineers Krebs und Kiefer International and was completed by April 2019. The mosque faced construction delays owing to budgetary concerns due to the falling prices of oil. Around 2,300 workers from China, Algeria and other African countries were deployed to work on the project. The construction of the mosque was seen by many to serve as a symbol of the reign of long-serving president Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Architecture

The mosque sits on a site covering and overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The prayer hall has a capacity of 37,000 worshippers, while the structure including the compound can house up to 120,000 worshippers and has parking space for 7,000 cars. The complex also houses a Koranic school, a park, a library, staff housing area, a fire station, a museum of Islamic art, and a research centre on the history of Algeria.
The mosque also has a tall minaret, which makes it the tallest building in Africa. It also houses an observation deck atop the minaret, which has 37 floors. The mosque is designed to withstand an earthquake of magnitude 9.0 and the structure has been specially processed to resist corrosion. The main prayer hall has 618 octagonal columns serving as support pillars and of calligraphic writing engraved with a laser system. The dome of the prayer hall has a diameter of and rises to a height of.