KETCHAOUA MOSQUE
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After long works, it reopened its doors at the end of 2018 and is definitely worth a visit. The Ketchaoua mosque was built in 1612 on the site of ancient Roman baths uncovered in 1844. It was located in the heart of the lively district of the lower Casbah which revolved around the old Djenina Palace, the souks and the Badestan, the slave market. Restored under the dey Hassan Pacha in 1795, it was built in the Byzantine style. Confiscated to the Muslim cult by the French in 1832, the mosque became a church and underwent major alterations between 1842 and 1890. Consecrated Saint-Philippe cathedral in 1860, the building is mutilated of its minaret, flanked by two bell towers and an imposing staircase leading to a portico with arcades, while the facade adopts a neo-Byzantine and neo-Moorish style during work carried out by the diocesan architect and historical monuments of Algeria; Albert Ballu. The cathedral celebrated the funeral of the composer and musician Camille Saint-Saëns in 1921. The interior of the building, reallocated to Muslim worship since 1962, has elements of the original mosque: minbar and marble columns, ablutions basin ... The old carved wooden door of the mosque, a work of the seventeenth century attributed to Ahmed Ben Lablatchi, is preserved in the Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Arts. One of the bells of the old cathedral, too heavy, could not be removed from the building; it can be seen in one of the bell towers, at the back of the mosque.
