The newly inaugurated Mosque Algeria has been ranked as the world’s third-largest and Africa’s largest mosque.
Algerian state media who revealed this explained that the entire facility could host over 120,000 worshippers.
The Great Mosque of Algiers is situated in the capital, with a minaret towering 265 meters, 869 feet, high and a large prayer room. Algerian state media says the entire facility could host over 120,000 worshippers.
It was learnt that the Mosque had been delayed for years amid political shifts before it was inaugurated ahead of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.
The Great Mosque of Algiers equally billed as the world’s largest outside Islam’s holiest sites in Mecca and Medina.
The worship center which was planned by ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, its construction has reportedly sparked wide criticism.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Monday officially inaugurated the Grand Mosque of Algiers on the North African nation’s Mediterranean coastline.
Known locally as the Djamaa El-Djazair, it features the world’s tallest minaret at 265 metres, 869 feet can accommodate 120,000 people, and is the world’s largest mosque only after Islam’s holiest sites in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca and Medina.
The Mosque was built over seven years in the form of a modernist structure extending across 27.75 hectares, almost 70 acres, decorated in wood and marble and containing Arab and North African flourishes.
It was learnt that It has a helicopter landing pad and a library capable of housing up to one million books.
The mosque’s official opening allows it to host many public prayers and events during the month of Ramadan, which starts around March 10.
Meanwhile, its inauguration event was largely ceremonial, as it has been open to international tourists and state visitors to Algeria for about five years, and first opened for prayers in October 2020 but without Tebboune as he was suffering from COVID-19.
The magnificent mosque reportedly cost close to $900m to build and was constructed by a Chinese firm.
Construction began in 2012 and was faced with many delays and cost overruns.
The African country, Algeria now boasts the largest mosque outside of the holiest sites in Islam, but the project has been marked by years of delays and cost overruns. It has also been criticised for allegedly being built in a seismically risky area, but the government has denied this.
Critics also claim that the mosque was essentially a vanity project for former President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who was forced to resign in 2019 after 20 years in power.
Bouteflika, who had to step down after popular protests and eventual intervention by Algeria’s military, had named the mosque after himself and planned to inaugurate it in February 2019 but never managed to.
The mosque — along with a major national highway and a million new housing units — was marred by suspicions of corruption during the Bouteflika era, with suspected kickbacks to state officials paid by the contractors.
