SHAFAQNA- For the first time Adhan has been recited at the Great Mosque of Algiers in the Algerian capital.
The construction of Djamaa el Djazaïr mosque began in 2012 but the inauguration was postponed several times. The Mosque had been scheduled to be officially launched in the holy Month of Ramadan this year (Apirl-May) but its inauguration was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Mosque houses the world’s tallest minaret and is the largest mosque in Africa and the third-largest in the world after the Great Mosque of Mecca and Al-Masjid an-Nabawi of Medina.
The Mosque sits on a site covering 400,000 m2 and overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The prayer hall has a capacity of 37,000 worshippers, while the structure including the compound can house up to 120,000 worshippers and has parking space for 7,000 cars. The complex also houses a Quran school, a park, a library, staff housing area, a fire station, a museum of Islamic art, and a research center.
The Mosque also has a 265-meter-tall minaret, which makes it the tallest building in Africa, IQNA reported. The construction tender was won by China State Construction Engineering Corporation, China’s largest construction company. The construction costs apparently exceeded one billion euros, according to Salamweb. The design was done by German architects KSP Juergen Engel Architekten and engineers Krebs und Kiefer International.