Bordj Tamentfoust () is an Ottoman fort in the city of

Tamentfoust Tamentfoust ( ar, تمنتفوست), the classical Rusguniae and colonial , is a site in the Dar El Beïda District of Algiers in Algeria. Geography Tamentfoust lies on Cape Matifou, which forms the northeast side of the Bay of Algiers. Name ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

. The fort is among several Ottoman forts built during the Ottoman rule of Algeria, which were established to guard the city of

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

. With the exception of Bordj Tamentfoust, most of the forts no longer exist or in a good condition. The fort was built on the highest point of Tamentfoust, at the eastern end of the Bay of Algiers.

History

It was commissioned in 1661 during the rule of Ismail Pasha, on the part of Agha Ramadan. It was later renovated in 1685 by Hussein Mozomorto, a

dey Dey (Arabic: داي), from the Turkish honorific title ''dayı'', literally meaning uncle, was the title given to the rulers of the Ottoman Algeria, Regency of Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli, Libya, Tripoli,Bertarelli (1929), p. 203. and Ottoman Tu ...

hailed from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. The exact date of construction is remain contested. French historian Émile Boutin says that it was built in 1685 in response to the French military campaign led by

Abraham Duquesne Abraham Duquesne, marquis du Bouchet (2 February 1688) was a French naval officer, who also saw service as an admiral in the Swedish navy. He was born in Dieppe, a seaport, in 1610, and was a Huguenot. He was the son of a naval officer and theref ...

of bombing the city of Algiers. Another French historian

Georges Marçais Georges Marçais ( Rennes, 11 March 1876 – Paris, 20 May 1962) was a French orientalist, historian, and scholar of Islamic art and architecture who specialized in the architecture of North Africa. Biography He initially trained as a painter ...

says that it was built in 1722 under the rule of the dey Muhammad Pasha.برج تامنفوست
. ''الموجز الوطني للدراسة والبحث في الحركة الوطنيةة'' Retrieved January 10, 2018. The fort had faced the French raids several times, led by

Jean II d'Estrées Jean, Comte d'Estrées, (3 November 1624 in Solothurn, Switzerland – 19 May 1707 in Paris), was a Marshal of France, and an important naval commander of Louis XIV. He was born into a noble family from Picardy. His aunt was Gabrielle d'Estr� ...

under the order of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

in 1688. On July 23, 1830, the official declaration of

jihad Jihad (; ar, جهاد, jihād ) is an Arabic word which literally means "striving" or "struggling", especially with a praiseworthy aim. In an Islamic context, it can refer to almost any effort to make personal and social life conform with Go ...

against France took place in the fort, in which chiefs of several tribes in the area had gathered together, including

Banu Hilal The Banu Hilal ( ar, بنو هلال, translit=Banū Hilāl) was a confederation of Arabian tribes from the Hejaz and Najd regions of the Arabian Peninsula that emigrated to North Africa in the 11th century. Masters of the vast plateaux of th ...

, Bani al-Khashana and Bani al-Sabt.

Architecture

It is octagonal-shaped, and contains twelve rooms, eleven of which are distributed into three groups over seven sides surrounding the yard. One of the rooms is set up as a prayer room and contains

mihrab Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...

without any decorations. Above these rooms is surface with barricades which have porthole in them. The wall is built from large stones, and the height of the fort reaches around nine meters measuring from the bottom of the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

. The fort was adjoined with another fort called "Bordj al-Ingliz" () which was equipped with a moat as well.برج تامنفوست
''Museum with no Frontiers''. Retrieved January 10, 2018.

Gallery

File:Terrassebordj.JPG, Battlement of the fort

References

{{coord, 36.4826, 03.1351, display=title 17th-century establishments in Africa Buildings and structures in Algiers Province Castles in Algeria Ottoman fortifications