Jami' Ali Bitshin

Algiers, Algeria

Located at the intersection of the the of Bab el-Oued and de la Casbah (Sidi Driss Hemidouche), the facade is lined with shops along these busy streets. The prayer hall is an an open space with columns, topped by a octagonal dome. There is a gallery on three sides of the prayer hall, and two galleries on entrance side across from the mihrab. The minaret at the northeast corner, once 15 m high, was shortened to 12 m during the colonial era. The msoque was used as a military pharmacy during the French conquest of Algiers, and subsquently converted to a church.After Algerian independence in 1962 it was returned to its original function as a mosque.