'Piercing the Sky': Algiers' Largest Mosque on the African Continent
Detikcom visited and witnessed the magnificence of the mosque on Tuesday, 19 May 2026. The visit was at the invitation of the Ministry of Tourism and Handicrafts of Algeria as part of the 25th International Tourism and Travel Fair, SITEV 2026.
The mosque holds the distinction of being the third largest mosque in the world, after the Masjid al-Haram and Masjid al-Nabawi, and the largest on the African continent. Djamaa el-Djazair is described as a complex for scientific and religious tourism.
Awe accompanied every step as we toured the mosque with dozens of journalists from around the world. Every corner tells a story. The mosque sits on a 27.7-hectare site with a built-up area of 400,000 square metres.
In the main prayer hall, 120,000 worshippers can prostrate together. The mosque also houses a library capable of accommodating 1,000 readers and storing one million books on Islamic history, science and civilisation.
In the southern section are the main entrance, the cultural centre, the library with one million books, and a postgraduate school for various fields of knowledge. There are also staff housing, a security squad building, a fire station, and the administration offices of Djamaa el-Djazair.
One of its distinctive features is a tower that ‘pierces the sky’ of Algiers, at a height of 265 metres. From the tower’s summit, a 360-degree panorama of Algiers can be seen.
There is also a museum, which forms the natural continuation of the prayer space. The tower itself is described as the tallest in the world at 265 metres, comprising five sections: the first three are used for the museum, the final two for a research centre.
The surrounding grounds are equally vibrant, a 14-hectare park planted with Mediterranean trees offering shade and fresh air.
The project emerged from cross-continental collaboration, with a German architect drawing its lines and a Chinese contractor constructing it. The Neo-Andalusian style blends with modern restraint, with a colossal 50-metre-diameter dome gleaming gold, appearing to integrate seamlessly.
The builders installed hundreds of seismic isolation pads, combining special rubber and steel under the main building. The system is designed to withstand quakes up to magnitude 9.0 on the Richter scale. The project began in 2012 and was completed nearly a decade later at a cost of more than USD 1 billion.
Historically, in the French colonial era, the site was a centre for Cardinal Charles Lavigerie’s missionary movement. Today, the land bows to a different history. Djamaa el-Djazair stands on the coast of Algiers, inviting visitors to feel how faith, art and science can unite in a single breath.