Ahmed Benyahia

[1] He is a notable alumnus of the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris, where as a student in the late 1960s he played an instrumental role in successfully bringing French sculptor César Baldaccini as a Professor there, of whom he was to become a distinguished disciple and protégé.

He then grew up at the Arbaïne Cherif [fr], for long considered the intellectual hub of the city of Constantine, a short distance from the school of the famous Algerian polymath and reformist Ben Badis.

In 1957, while the apex of the Algerian War of Independence, at age 13, he joined Constantine's École municipale des Beaux-arts, then under French administration, which allowed him to teach painting, drawing, and history at the Hihi El Mekki High School in Kantara for a year.

[9] Once he moved to Paris, France, Benyahia's artistic talent would not go unnoticed by French sculptor César, who joined the faculty of the prestigious École after a group of students headed by Ahmed urged him to become their Professor.

The Board members of the École nationale initially refused to grant a professorship to César, but were subsequently forced to reconsider their stance due to the students' pressure.

Thanks to the intense activism of the association headed by Ahmed Benyahia, a great number of monuments and landmarks dating back to the Phoenician, Roman, Ottoman, French era were saved from destruction, which was planned by the local authorities in order to initiate several new urban projects such as the construction of parking lots and tramway lines.

[19] Mohammed Seddik Benyahia, militant nationalist, former Minister of Foreign Affaires and architect of the liberation of the American hostages held in Iran after the Iranian revolution, is not a direct relative.