Architecture of Algeria
The architecture of Algeria encompasses a diverse history influenced by a number of internal and external forces, including the Roman Empire, Muslim conquest of the Maghreb, French colonization, and movements for Algerian independence.
[4]: 43–44 They used Iol (modern Cherchell) as their royal capital, renaming it Caesarea and developing it into a city with a regular grid plan and the kind of architecture associated with the Roman Augustan period.
[5] A number of large scale funerary monuments and tombs built during the era are the most well documented examples of Berber kingdom architecture.
The monuments combine a number of different architectural styles introduced by the Carthaginians, frequently referencing Hellenistic and Punic motifs.
As opposed to the exclusionary European ghetto, these quarters provided insular cultural centers for Jewish and Islamic life within the Algerian city.
[12][13][14] In 790, Idris I, the founder of the Idrisid dynasty, founded the Mosque of Agadir on the site of Roman settlement of Pomeria (later to become Tlemcen), whose remains have been excavated by modern archaeologists.
It contained a hypostyle mosque, a fortified citadel on higher ground, and a palace structure with a large courtyard similar to the design of traditional houses.
[15]: 41 [16]: 13–14 In 934, while in the service of the Fatimid caliph al-Qa'im, the Zirid leader Ziri ibn Manad built a palace at 'Ashir (near the present town of Kef Lakhdar in Algeria).
[17]: 67 The Hammadids, an offshoot of the Zirids, based themselves in Algeria and in 1007 they founded an entirely new fortified capital known as Qala'at Bani Hammad, northeast of present-day M'Sila.
Although abandoned and destroyed in the 12th century, the city has been excavated by modern archeologists and the site is one of the best-preserved medieval Islamic capitals in the world, with multiple palaces and a monumental mosque.
[16]: 125 From the late 11th to early 13th centuries varying extents of Algerian territory were controlled by the Almoravids and Almohads, Berber empires that ruled in North Africa and Al-Andalus (Muslim-controlled Iberian Peninsula).
During his siege of the city at the beginning of the 14th century, the Marinid ruler Abu Ya'qub built a nearby fortified settlement named al-Mansurah, which includes the monumental Mansurah Mosque (begun in 1303, only partly preserved today).
[24] The lower part of the city, near the shore, was the center of the Ottoman and Regency administration, containing the most important markets, mosques, wealthy residences, janissary barracks, government buildings (like the mint), and palaces.
[15]: 237 [24] Mosque architecture in Algiers during this period demonstrates the convergence of multiple influences as well as peculiarities that may be attributed to the innovations of local architects.
Some scholars, such as Georges Marçais, suggested that the architects or patrons could have been influenced by Ottoman-era mosques built in the Levantine provinces of the empire, where many of the rulers of Algiers had originated.
[18]: 434–435 [15]: 241–242 This was rebuilt in 1696 into the current zawiya (religious funerary complex), which contained the mausoleum, a mosque, a hostel, and ablutions facilities, among other elements.
The practice of attaching the mausoleum of a ruler or political patron to a madrasa he founded was common in Cairo to the east, but uncommon in the Maghreb.
[29]: 437 The residential palace of the ruler in Algiers, the Janina or Jenina ('Little Garden'), was situated at the center of a larger palatial complex known as the Dar as-Sultan in the lower part of the city.
The gallery was lined with marble columns on either side, paved with ceramic tiles, and contained at its center a jet fountain with an octagonal basin.
[15]: 237 After the French conquest in 1830, however, most of the lower city of Algiers, including the Dar al-Sultan and its mosque, was demolished and replaced with European style streets and buildings.
A grand staircase leads from the floor of this courtyard to an annex, the dwira (also transliterated as douira, meaning a smaller house or apartment), which was partly demolished in the 19th century.
[18]: 438 [33] In addition to the warehouses, stables, and other military facilities, the citadel acquired a council room (diwan), a courtroom, and various government offices.
[33] A number of other palaces or wealthy residences from the Ottoman period have also been preserved in Algeria, generally sharing some similar characteristics such as an entrance hall or corridor (called the sqifa), a wast ad-dar (central interior courtyard), a multi-story layout, and a dwira annex.
At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 21st century, The majority of French colonial urban planners and architects viewed themselves as tasked with the duty of remodeling Algerian cities to mirror the regularity, symmetry, and public facilities characteristic of the French homeland; colonial governments designed new developments with straight lines and right angles and established numerous public facilities including hospitals and post offices.
Architects Bernard Zehrfuss, Louis Miquel and Fernand Pouillon constructed a number of major modernist buildings within Algeria in the decades including housing developments Diar El Mahcoul and Climat de France.
[45] Within the ultimate years of colonial Algeria, the French administration initiated the Constantine Plan of 1959 which pushed for increased development of social housing projects, particularly those for residents of slums (bidonvilles).
Dubbed cites de recasement (relocation cities) and millions, these developments have been criticized for allegedly providing residents poorer living conditions than their original bidonvilles.
[1] Architect Abderrahmane Bouchama served as a key figure in the subsequent process of development of a distinct Algerian architectural identity, releasing a series of writings including his 1966 book L'Arceau qui chante, that addressed the subject.
[46] Unlike chaoui dwellings, Kabyle homes, built by the Berbers of Kabylie, are constructed of stone and have pitched, tiled roofs.
[46] The M'zab region of Algeria, which includes the city of Ghardaïa, has distinctive mosques and houses that are built using rammed earth and completely whitewashed.
