The statue of Our Lady of Africa was originally modeled on a French sculpture entitled Virgo Fidelis ("Faithful Virgin") a copy of an earlier work completed in 1838 by Edmé Bouchardon.

A later derivation was ordered by Antoine-Adolphe Dupuch, the first Bishop of Algiers, in 1840, and it continued to pass hands in the next few years until ending up with a group of Trappist monks in Staouéli.

The site he chose had been a place of prayer since 1846, when two women (Anne Cinquin and Agarite Berger) who worked at the local minor seminary had used it to recite the Rosary.

The church, Notre-Dame d'Afrique, designed by Jean-Eugène Fromageau, was completed nextdoor by Bishop Charles Lavigerie, M.Afr., Pavy's successor in Algiers.

[1] Both congregations were assigned by Lavigerie to assist in operating the new church, which quickly became associated with miraculous healings attributed to the intercession of Our Lady of Africa.

[5] The statue of Our Lady of Africa received a canonical coronation from Pope Pius IX in 1876, in the same ceremony wherein the church was elevated to the status of a minor basilica.

An inscription remains above the statue that reads, in French: “Our Lady of Africa, pray for us and for the Muslims.”[3] The church has served as a site of prayer for both Christians and Muslims.