The Mosque of Algiers was chosen as one of the best international architectural designs for the year 2021, by winning the annual award of the “Chicago Athenaeum” Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Center for Architectural Arts Design, as was revealed today, Sunday, by the United States Embassy in Algeria.
The US Embassy offered its “sincere congratulations” to Algeria for winning this international award, which is one of the awards granted by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum, similar to the American Award for Architecture and Green Design, among others, with the aim of “improving knowledge and public awareness of architecture and design.”
Algiers Mosque is the largest mosque in Africa and the third in the world after the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina. It is also a multi-functional pole.
This religious, scientific and tourist edifice extends over an area of 30 hectares, of which 400,000 square meters have been allocated to contain 12 continuous and integrated buildings.
This huge building, located in the municipality of Mohammadia (Algiers), includes a prayer hall of 20,000 square meters and a capacity of more than 120,000 worshipers, decorated with distinctive marble pillars and a large mihrab, made of marble and multicolored plaster with artistic touches that reflect the authentic Algerian decoration.
The engineering design of Algiers Mosque has adopted anti-seismic standards, with its ability to absorb 70 percent of the earthquake’s intensity.
On the other hand, Algiers Mosque is characterized by the largest minaret in the world with a height of more than 265 meters. It consists of 43 floors, 15 of which were designated as a space to host a museum related to the history of Algeria and 10 floors were allocated to host a research center, in addition to shops.
It also has, at the top, binoculars so that visitors to the site could enjoy the beauty of the capital’s bay.
The Mosque of Algiers also hosts a “House of the Qur’an” with a capacity of 1,500 seats directed to Algerian and foreign students for post-graduation, in Islamic sciences and humanities.
The mosque also includes other buildings, such as a cultural center that includes an exhibition hall and a library that accommodates a million books, as well as a space for helicopters and a car park that can accommodate 4,000 cars, built on a two-storey level, in addition to a large yard surrounded by gardens and basins.
ENTV 22/11/2021
