Place des Martyrs
New Mosque of Algiers is commonly known as Djemaa el- Djedid or Jamaa el- Jedid is one of the oldest and largest mosque in Algiers. New Mosque was constructed in 1660 at the time of Ottoman Empire. Its architects combined several architectural styles including traditional Byzantine, Italian, Turkish and Andalusian. New Mosque of Algiers was constructed in an octagonal shape with four doors on all four sides. Columns of the New Mosque are made from solid marble. These are parts that remained from the original mosque. Its capitols were taken from various Christian Byzantine basilicas, those ruins are commonly found in the vicinity of Algiers.
Mihrab warhead inscription
"الحمد لله وحده و
صلى الله على سيدنا محمد اما بعد رحمكم الله قد اجتهد في بنيان هدا
المسجد عبد الله اراجي عضو مولاه المجاهد ي سبيل الله الحاج الحبيب كان
الله له عونا. "
“Praise be to one God. May God pour out his
graces on our Lord Mohammed. Then, may God grant you His mercy. The
one who took care, with zeal and assiduity, of the construction of
this mosque, the worshiper of God, who hopes for the indulgence of
his Master and who devotes himself to the holy war for the Love of
God, c is El-Hadj Habib, may God help him! "
This mosque, one of the most
important buildings of the Ottoman period, is still the great Hanafi
temple today. Some of its forms evoke Byzantine art. It would have
been designed by the Muslim master builder al-Hâjj Habîb who
conformed to Ottoman models, and not as the legend tells by a
Christian slave who would have marked this mosque with the symbol of
his faith.
Its plan is basilica, its three naves
perpendicular to the wall of the qibla are cut by five bays. The
central nave and the penultimate bay are raised forming at roof
level a Latin cross, the crossing of the arms of which is overhung
by a dome, while the side naves are covered with cupolas and flat
terraces surmounting cloister arches. , lightened at their base by
broken arched holes. The central nave is covered in a cradle, its
double arches fall on cruciform pillars; it magnifies the space of
the qibla with a significant width and a dome on slightly ovoid
pendants, whose profile with a distinctly pointed point reminds us
of the dome of the Syrian church of Saint George of Ezra. The use of
pendants evokes the domes of Istanbul. The dome is circumscribed at
the four angles by the ovoid cupolas of the side naves, which rest
on an octagonal drum and four pendants. Classic solution in the
Byzantine world, many examples of which are known in Constantinople,
such as the Kilise Camii. Large barrel vaults connect these corner
cupolas. Massifs of masonry ensure its stability, following a
procedure familiar to Byzantine builders. Cloister arches may have
been preferred here to cupolas because the spaces to be covered were
rectangular and not square.
Its mihrâb has an octagonal
niche, topped with a cul-de-four. The lower part is decorated with
ceramic tiles framed by two marble plinths. The magnificent marble
minbar, made in Italy, comes from the al-Sayyida mosque destroyed in
1832, which stood nearby, opposite the main entrance to the Dey
(Djenina) residence.
This mosque, so deeply Byzantine in
appearance, has a square minaret with a Maghrebi silhouette lantern,
crowned with a ceramic frieze, of very elegant proportions. Its
shape, similar to churches, is found in some mosques on the Balkan
peninsula. We also meet Algerian buildings with a similar profile,
such as the mosques of Ali-Bitchnin or Ketchawa. In either case, the
idea was to lengthen the prayer room in order to increase the space
reserved for the faithful.