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Djamaa el Kebir ( ar, الجامع الكبير, translit=djama' el-kebir), also known as the Great Mosque of Algiers (), is a historic mosque in
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 d ...
,
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
. It is located within the
Casbah A kasbah (, also ; ar, قَـصَـبَـة, qaṣaba, lit=fortress, , Maghrebi Arabic: ), also spelled qasba, qasaba, or casbah, is a fortress, most commonly the citadel or fortified quarter of a city. It is also equivalent to the term ''alca ...
(old city), near the city's harbor. Dating to 1097, it is one of the few remaining examples of
Almoravid The Almoravid dynasty ( ar, المرابطون, translit=Al-Murābiṭūn, lit=those from the ribats) was an imperial Berber Muslim dynasty centered in the territory of present-day Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century tha ...
architecture, although it has undergone other additions and reconstructions since its foundation. It is the oldest mosque in Algiers and is said to be one of the oldest mosque in Algeria after
Sidi Okba Mosque Sidi Okba Mosque ( ar, مسجد سيدي عقبة, ''Masjid Sīdī ʻUqbah'') is the oldest surviving mosque in Algeria. The mosque was first established as the mausoleum in 686 dedicated to ʻUqbah ibn Nāfiʻ, a Companion of the Prophet and on ...
and .


History

An inscription on the mosque's
minbar A minbar (; sometimes romanized as ''mimber'') is a pulpit in a mosque where the imam (leader of prayers) stands to deliver sermons (, '' khutbah''). It is also used in other similar contexts, such as in a Hussainiya where the speaker sits a ...
(pulpit) records the date of 1
Rajab Rajab ( ar, رَجَب) is the seventh month of the Islamic calendar. The lexical definition of the classical Arabic verb ''rajaba'' is "to respect" which could also mean "be awe or be in fear", of which Rajab is a derivative. This month is re ...
, 490 AH, testifying to fact that the mosque was built in or around 1097 CE, during the reign of
Yusuf ibn Tashfin Yusuf ibn Tashfin, also Tashafin, Teshufin, ( ar, يوسف بن تاشفين ناصر الدين بن تالاكاكين الصنهاجي , Yūsuf ibn Tāshfīn Naṣr al-Dīn ibn Tālākakīn al-Ṣanhājī ; reigned c. 1061 – 1106) was l ...
. On inscription on the base of the minaret indicates that it was built in 1322 CE (17
Dhu al-Qadah Dhu al-Qa'dah ( ar, ذُو ٱلْقَعْدَة, ', ), also spelled Dhu al-Qi'dah or Zu al-Qa'dah, is the eleventh month in the Islamic calendar. It could possibly mean "possessor or owner of the sitting and seating place" - the space occupied w ...
, 722 AH) by the Zayyanid sultan Abu Tashfin I of
Tlemcen Tlemcen (; ar, تلمسان, translit=Tilimsān) is the second-largest city in northwestern Algeria after Oran, and capital of the Tlemcen Province. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it exports through the p ...
. The mosque was severely damaged during the French bombardment of Algiers in 1682 and again in 1683, resulting in the subsequent reconstruction of its ''
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 ...
'' and its ''
qibla The qibla ( ar, قِبْلَة, links=no, lit=direction, translit=qiblah) is the direction towards the Kaaba in the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which is used by Muslims in various religious contexts, particularly the direction of prayer for the ...
'' (southern) wall.The gallery at the outside of the mosque was built in 1837 during French colonial rule. Its construction was a consequence of a complete reconstruction of the street by the French.


Geography

The Great Mosque is located in the northeastern part of the city in the historic Casbah (or Kasbah) district near the harbor, next to the Chamber of Commerce. Earlier, the mosque was located on the Rue de la Marine in Algiers during French colonial rule of Algeria, which was then the entrance street to Algiers Harbor. Rue de la Marine no longer exists and has been surpassed by the Rue d' Angkor and Boulevard de Ernesto Guevara and in the mosque area by a fork road called Rue Saadi et Mokhtar Ben Hafidh which it now lies on.


Architectural features

The mosque has a rectangular floor plan 46 meters wide and 38 meters deep. Materials used in constructing the mosque were stone, brick, roofing tiles and wood, and ornamentation of ceramics and wood was applied.


Interior

The prayer hall is subdivided into eleven aisles running perpendicular to the southern qibla wall, divided by rows of horseshoe arches supported by whitewashed masonry pillars. The central aisle is wider than the others, hinting at the T-plan layout which would become standard in subsequent mosque architecture in Maghreb. A rectangular courtyard measuring about 11 by 21 meters is located in the northern part of the mosque, surrounded by arcades. The ''
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 ...
'', which was originally built as an integral part of the mosque in 1097, was destroyed by the 17th-century French bombardment. The reconstructed ''mihrab'' is a typical design followed in 18th-century Algiers in the form of indented lobed arches at the end of the central and much wider nave. It is a simple fresco façade with two small spiral columns flanking it on either side with an ogive stucco arch seen in relief. The ''mihrab'' is set in a niche with a flat floor. Adjoining the ''mihrab'' on either side there are two door openings which lead to small oblong rooms, one of which housed the ''minbar'' which used to be shifted on rails to the prayer hall for the Imam to say the daily prayers and give sermons. While the rails that were used to shift the ''minbar'' are still embedded in the floor, the ''minbar'' itself is now preserved in the
National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art The National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art (' in French) is an art museum in Algiers, Algeria. History According to Museum with No Frontiers, the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art is the oldest museum in Algeria and Africa. T ...
s in Algiers. File:Great Mosque of Algiers (Djamaa el Kebir).jpg, Interior of the mosque's prayer hall File:Djamâa El Kebir.jpg, View of the aisle leading towards the
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 ...
File:محراب الجامع.jpg, The mihrab of the mosque today


Exterior

Following the realignment of the main street of Rue de la Marine, substantial changes in the façade became an essential additional feature. As a result, a gallery or
portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cul ...
of columns was added at the entrance to the mosque was built in 1837 under French colonial rule in an orientalizing style of polylobed arches. It reuses Italian marble columns from the 18th-century al-Sa'ida Mosque. According to French scholar Georges Marçais, the minaret, which was first added in the early 14th century, was rebuilt or remodelled again in a later period. This minaret's surface is indented with rectangular niches decorated by polylobed
blind arch A blind arch is an arch found in the wall of a building that has been infilled with solid construction and so cannot serve as a passageway, door or window.''A Dictionary of Architecture''; Fleming, John; Honour, Hugh & Pevsner, Nikolaus (1966) T ...
es, as well as with panels and bands of blue and white ceramic tiles. In another part of the mosque, in the north-east corner, is the ''Bab al-Jenina'' which, along with the minaret, is meant for the exclusive use of the imam of the mosque. It has several rooms for routine use.


The minbar

The original ''minbar'' of the mosque is now preserved in the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts. It is one of the finest sculpted ''minbars'' of its type in Algeria. It bears an inscription in
Kufic script Kufic script () is a style of Arabic script that gained prominence early on as a preferred script for Quran transcription and architectural decoration, and it has since become a reference and an archetype for a number of other Arabic scripts. It ...
saying: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم أتم هذا المنبر في أول شهر رجب من سنة تسعين وأربعمائة. الذي عمل محمد (In the name of
Allah Allah (; ar, الله, translit=Allāh, ) is the common Arabic word for God. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from '' al- ilāh'', which means "the god", a ...
, the Compassionate, the Merciful. This chair has been completed the first of the month of Rajab of the year 490. Work of Muhammad). The ''minbar'' is sculpted in wood fixed on wheels for free movement of the Almoravid period. It is patterned in the simple shape of the paneled ''minbar'' of the Great Mosque of Qairawan.


Notable Imams

*
Mohamed Charef Muhammad was an Islamic prophet and a religious and political leader who preached and established Islam. Muhammad and variations may also refer to: *Muhammad (name), a given name and surname, and list of people with the name and its variations ...
(1908-2011)


See also

*
Algerian Islamic reference The Algerian Islamic reference is the fundamentalist and legal framework for the practice of the religion of Islam in Algeria within Sunnism under the tutelage of the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Endowments. Reference elements Sunnism ...
*
Hizb Rateb The Hizb Rateb ( ar, الحزب الراتب) is a collective recitation of Quran or dhikr or dua or wird done by murids and saliks in islamic sufism. Presentation The ''Hizb Rateb'' is a group tilawa of the Quran with one voice, in mo ...
( Hezzab,
Bash Hezzab The Bash Hezzab ( ar, بَاشْ حَزَّاب) is the senior Hezzab supervising the Hizb Rateb and Salka in mosques and zawiyas in Algeria according to the Algerian Islamic reference under the supervision of the Ministry of Religious Aff ...
,
Salka Salka ( hu, Ipolyszalka) is a village and municipality in the Nové Zámky District in the Nitra Region of south-west Slovakia. History In historical records the village was first mentioned in 1156. Geography The municipality lies at an altitude ...
) *
Great Mosque of Aleppo The Great Mosque of Aleppo ( ar, جَـامِـع حَـلَـب الْـكَـبِـيْـر, ''Jāmi‘ Ḥalab al-Kabīr'') is the largest and one of the oldest mosques in the city of Aleppo, Syria. It is located in al-Jalloum district of the ...
*
Islam in Algeria Islam is the majority and state religion in Algeria. The vast majority of citizens are Sunni Muslims belonging to Maliki school of jurisprudence, with a minority of Ibadi Islam, most of whom live in the M'zab Valley region. Islam provides the so ...
*
History of medieval Arabic and Western European domes The early domes of the Middle Ages, particularly in those areas recently under Byzantine control, were an extension of earlier Roman architecture. The domed church architecture of Italy from the sixth to the eighth centuries followed that of the ...
*
List of cultural assets of Algeria List of cultural assets of Algeria includes monuments, natural sites and parks, and other cultural assets as classed by the Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , im ...


References


Further reading


''Alger, quelques-unes de ses mosquées''
le Comité du Vieil Alger, Feuillets d'El-Djezaïr, Fondateur Henri Klein (1910), Éditions du Tell, 2003 * Bourouiba, R., Les inscriptions commémoratives des mosquées d’Algérie, Algiers, OPU, 1984, p. 81–86 * Bourouiba, R., L’art religieux musulman en Algérie, Algiers, S.N.E.D., 1983 * Bourouiba, R., Apports de l’Algérie à l’architecture religieuse arabo-islamique, Algiers, OPNA, 1956 * Devoulx, A., Les édifices religieux de l'ancien Alger, Algiers, Bastide, 1870 * Marçais, G., L’architecture musulmane d’occident, Tunisie, Algérie, Espagne et Sicile, Paris, Arts et Métiers Graphiques, 1954


External links


Museum with no frontiers, Ali Lafer, ''The Great Mosque (djamaa el-kebir)''
* {{Authority control Mosques in Algiers 11th-century mosques Almoravid architecture