Notre Dame d'Afrique (
English: “Our Lady of Africa”) is a
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...
in
Algiers,
Algeria
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.
Pope Pius IX granted two Pontifical decrees towards the shrine on the same day on 15 April 1876:
* The first decree invoked to canonically crown the venerated Marian image enshrined within. The coronation rites was executed by the Archbishop of Carthage
Charles Lavigerie
Charles Martial Allemand Lavigerie (31 October 1825 – 26 November 1892) was a French cardinal, archbishop of Carthage and Algiers and primate of Africa. He also founded the White Fathers.
A Catholic priest who became a bishop in France, Laviger ...
on 30 April 1876.
* The second decree which raised the sanctuary to the status of Basilica based on an "immemorial custom". (
Pope Benedict XV later regulated to limit these privileges in 1918 to Papal edicts unless an ancient custom already refers to a building as a "Basilica".)
History
It was
Louis-Antoine-Augustin Pavy, who served as the Bishop of Algiers from 1846 to 1866, who paved the way for its construction.
The
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...
was inaugurated in 1872, after fourteen years of construction. It was founded by
Charles Lavigerie
Charles Martial Allemand Lavigerie (31 October 1825 – 26 November 1892) was a French cardinal, archbishop of Carthage and Algiers and primate of Africa. He also founded the White Fathers.
A Catholic priest who became a bishop in France, Laviger ...
.
Its architect,
Jean-Eugène Fromageau, who had been appointed the chief architect for ecclesiastical buildings in
French Algeria in 1859, employed a
Neo-Byzantine
Neo-Byzantine architecture (also referred to as Byzantine Revival) was a revival movement, most frequently seen in religious, institutional and public buildings. It incorporates elements of the Byzantine style associated with Eastern and Orth ...
style.
Its floor plan is unusual as the
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
is situated on the southeast instead of the usual east side of the building.
The basilica contains 46 stained glass windows installed in the 19th century. They were blown out during a bombing of the area in April 1943 and have been restored twice since the end of World War II.
In 1930 an organ, built in 1911, was donated to the basilica by the wife of the late Albert Weddell, a wealthy English resident in Algiers at Villa Georges and friend of the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns who had inaugurated the organ at Weddell's home.
The basilica was damaged by the 2003 Boumerdès earthquake. A reconstruction project was initiated by Archbishop Henri Teissier in 2003, but work on the project did not start until the spring of 2007. The total cost of restoration was 5.1 million euros. The project took three years to complete.
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Location
Notre Dame d'Afrique is on the north side of Algiers, on a 124 m (407 ft) cliff overlooking the Bay of Algiers. It formerly could be reached from the city centre by a Aerial tramway, cable car. It can be considered to be the counter-piece to the church of Notre-Dame de la Garde on the other side of the Mediterranean.
Importance
Its symbolic and religious importance can be summed up by the inscription on the apse: ''Notre Dame d'Afrique priez pour nous et pour les Musulmans'' ("Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Muslims").
Gallery
File:Notre Dame d'Afrique 2010.jpg,
File:Algiers_Notre_Dame_d%27Afrique.jpg,
File:NOTRE DAME D'AFRIQUE.ALGER.jpg,
File:Our Lady of Bab el Oued - Algiers.jpg,
File:Notre Dame d'Afrique a Alger en 2010.jpg,
File:Basilique Notre Dame d'Afrique.JPG,
References
External links
The Cemetery, with Chapel, Algiers, Algeria
{{DEFAULTSORT:Notre Dame d'Afrique
Basilica churches in Algeria
Buildings and structures in Algiers
Byzantine Revival architecture in Algeria
French colonial architecture
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1872
Tourist attractions in Algiers
19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Algeria