[4]: 191 [5]: 32  The inscription on the base of the minaret indicates that it was built in 1322 CE (17 Dhu al-Qadah, 722 AH) by the Zayyanid sultan Abu Tashfin I of Tlemcen.

The mosque was severely damaged during the French bombardment of Algiers in 1682 and again in 1683, resulting in the subsequent reconstruction of its mihrab and its qibla (southern) wall.

[8][7] The Great Mosque is located in the northeastern part of the city in the historic Casbah (or Kasbah) district near the harbor, next to the Chamber of Commerce.

[3] The prayer hall is subdivided into eleven aisles running perpendicular to the southern qibla wall, divided by rows of horseshoe arches supported by whitewashed masonry pillars.

[10][7] The reconstructed mihrab is a typical design followed in 18th-century Algiers in the form of indented lobed arches at the end of the central and a much wider nave.

[7] As a result, a gallery or portico of columns was added at the entrance to the mosque and was built in 1837 under French colonial rule in an orientalizing style of polylobed arches.

[4]: 273  This minaret's surface is indented with rectangular niches decorated by polylobed blind arches, as well as with panels and bands of blue and white ceramic tiles.

[3] It bears an inscription in Kufic script saying: بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم أتم هذا المنبر في أول شهر رجب من سنة تسعين وأربعمائة.