Great Mosque of Algiers (Jamaa el-Kebir)

Objects Place

الجامع الكبير بالجزائر

Algiers

Traditionally said to be the oldest mosque of Algiers; its minbar bears a date showing it existed in 1018, and its minaret was built by Abu Tashfin, sultan of Tlemcen, in 1324 1.

Depth

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Era
The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
Region
Maghreb

In space

Algiers

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ArchitectureMosques

Overview

The Great Mosque (Jamaa el-Kebir) of Algiers is traditionally said to be the oldest mosque in the city. Its minbar bears a date showing that it existed in 1018, and its minaret was built by Abu Tashfin, sultan of Tlemcen, in 1324. 1

Among the mosques of Algiers

Newcomb names with it the New Mosque (Jamaa el-Jedid) of the seventeenth century, and judges neither as interesting for its tilework as the old Moorish houses of the city, such as the Kasbah and the palaces of the governor-general and the archbishop, or the mosque of Sidi Abd al-Rahman with its abundant tiles. 1

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Located in
Algiers

People and things also explored

Ketchaoua Mosque, Algiers· Charles V's Algiers expedition (1541)· Algiers enters Ottoman sovereignty (1519)· Aruj Barbarossa enters Algiers (1516)· Capture of the Peñón of Algiers (1529)· End of the beylerbey system in Algiers (995/1587)· The French Occupation of Algiers· Uluj Ali's bid to annex Morocco (989/1581)

Sources

  1. Rexford Newcomb, The Decorative Tiles of North Africa (New York, 1929) , p.27
Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Great Mosque of Algiers (Jamaa el-Kebir)”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/building/great-mosque-of-algiers/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.

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Related

Ketchaoua Mosque, Algiers

The central mosque of Algiers, built in 1612 near the goat market and enlarged by Hasan Pasha in 1794, turned by the French into the Cathedral of St Philippe in 1832, returned to use as a mosque after independence and restored in 2014.