Africa’s largest mosque, located in Algiers, was inaugurated in February 2024. The prayer hall fits 36,000 faithful and the complex takes in 120,000 visitors. Th svelte minaret soars 265 meters and features a viewing platform at the top. Given the seismic activity of the zone, this tower with a square, 28 x 28-meter plan rises on foundations 50 meters deep and has concrete walls 1.2 meters thick. The loadbearing structure is built with steel and concrete.

A collaborative work of the architects at KSP Engel and engineers at Krebs+Kiefer (KuK), the complex has other facilities, such as a museum with a center for research on Islam, conference rooms, a library, a theology faculty, accommodations, stores, a cinema, and a park. The 600-meter-long main building, which contains the prayer hall, is based on a clear-cut structure of four square modules lined up, each measuring 150 x 150 meters. They form a hierarchical spatial sequence arranged in a line in the direction of Mecca. The stylistic elements that unify the complex are 618 slender pillars with floral capitals inspired by coves. They vary in height and present different versions of each other, in accordance with function and need. The interior of the large prayer hall – beneath a central dome with a 50-meter diameter and a height of 70 meters – is also divided by pillars, which here reach as high as 45 meters. The pillars also serve technical purposes, such as ventilation, drainage of the roofs, and the improvement of spatial acoustics thanks to the large capitals. The colors and the material nature of the desert are expressed with travertine, a stone of sandy tones.

The Great Mosque of Algiers (Djamaâ el Djazaïr) is a collaborative work of architects, engineers, and construction firms of Europe, North Africa, and China.

Photos courtesy of KSP Engel