Algeria's president inaugurates Africa's largest mosque
- 25 Feb 2024
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune officially inaugurated the Grand Mosque of Algiers, the third largest in the world and the biggest in Africa, on Sunday.
The vast mosque, which can hold 120,000 worshippers, first opened for prayers in October 2020, but Tebboune was suffering from COVID-19 and did not attend.
Known locally as the Djamaa El Djazair, the modernist structure extends across 27.75 hectares, and is smaller only than the two mosques in Makkah and Medinah in Saudi Arabia.
It also boasts the world's tallest minaret -- 267 metres -- fitted with elevators and a viewing platform that looks out over the capital and the Bay of Algiers.
The mosque's interior, in Andalusian style, is decorated in wood, marble and alabaster.
The mega-project cost more than $800 million dollars and took seven years to build.Tebboune's mandate officially expires at the end of this year but the president, elected in December 2019, has not yet made known whether he intends to run for a second term.
Agence France-Presse