Built in 1516 by Baba Aroudj, a Turkish corsair, self-proclaimed king of El Djazaïr following the liberation of Algiers from the Spanish grip, the Citadel(Casbah in Arabic) extends over no less than 9,000^m2 on the site of the palace of the Berber prince Bologhine Ibn Ziri, founder of El-Djazaïr Beni Mezghana.

The construction of this fortress, located at 118 m above the sea and initially intended to house a garrison of janissaries, was not completed until 1591. It is only in 1818 that it becomes the seat of the Regency. Ali Khodja, the penultimate dey of Algiers, threatened by the janissaries (soldiers of the Ottoman sultan's militia), left the Djenina, which had until then been the seat of government and administration, to take refuge in the Upper Kasbah. The Citadel thus became the dey's palace, whose installations were completed by the dey Hussein.
When Algiers was taken, the palace was requisitioned by Marshal de Bourmont, who made it his residence, and then returned to Clauzel, general-in-chief of the Algerian troops, and to other generals. The Orleans barracks were built in 1926 and the Franchet-d'Esperey colonial military museum was installed in the dey's palace in 1930 on the occasion of the centenary of the French presence.

The successive occupations and developments have unfortunately damaged the place, which has been under renovation for years.

The boulevard Mohamed Taleb, pierced by the French on the site of the gardens of the Citadel, has notably split the site.
To the right of Mohamed Taleb Boulevard (in the direction of descent), you will see the powder magazine, Dar El Baroud, the old stables and the beys' palace. Around these buildings and the courtyard, ramparts served as shelter for five batteries that pointed their guns towards the port, the coast and the hinterland.

On the left, you will notice the mosque of the Janissaries and, behind, the mosque of the dey, flanked by their octagonal minaret decorated with earthenware bands. The palace of the dey is articulated around a patio and consisted of the rooms of the Treasury, the hammam, the apartments of the women and those of the dey and the Diwan (room of the council) where would have taken place the famous " blow of the fan " on April 30, 1827. This offence made against the consul of France Deval by the dey Hussein, irritated by a debt of France towards the Regency, would have been the pretext to the capture of Algiers by the French.

Almost all the tiles have been torn out by the successive occupants - military and then squatters after Independence - and only a few colored shreds and doorways in carved marble hint at an ancient splendor.

" A few minutes' walk upwards will take you to the Kasbah, a vast and sumptuous palace that the dey used to live in, now converted into a fortress, containing a good garrison, the powder magazine and beautiful gardens in the middle of which is the telegraph (no longer in existence). The vast apartments of this palace deserve to be visited as much by their curious construction as by the historical memories which are attached to them. But don't look for anything that recalls the luxury and elegance of the palaces of the East, everything has disappeared; this very architecture, so light in the past, has had to give way to massive constructions. One still finds in the apartments and in the vast courts of this building remains of this Moorish style so full of poetry, but so mutilated, that it is hard to see. The galleries and the rooms of the first floor are used as refectories; the odor of tobacco replaced that of the perfumes of Mecca. The beautiful mosque of the palace, with its elegant columns, its mosaics and its dome, is used as dormitories for the artillerymen. The harem, this voluptuous dwelling of the women, is used as workshop to the tailors and the shoemakers. The powder magazine of the Casbah, when we visited this fortress in 1845, contained 6,482 shots for firearms, 3,000,000 cartridges and a large number of other projectiles."

This description of the Citadel was found in a tourist guidebook dated 1848, which can be found at gallica.bnf.fr, which has many other old guidebooks online.

While the Janissary quarter, the hammam and Bastion 5 have been restored, other parts of the citadel are still being restored. After several unsuccessful restoration operations, emergency work and safeguarding the citadel were started in 2005, at the level of nine buildings on the site, before the restoration work is committed in 2011. Indeed, under the effect of numerous earthquakes, floods and fires triggered by dilapidated facilities, the Kasbah had lost its charm and the buildings were falling into disrepair.

Often, "restorations are launched and then interrupted for financial, technical or legal reasons related to the property," says Aissa Mesri, head of the Archimed agency, responsible for studies and monitoring the restoration of the medina.

After years of work, the citadel has partially reopened its doors to the public in November 2020. Discover the palace of the dey (the regent of the Ottoman era), the mosque of the dey and the powder magazine. The mosque was decorated with faience, marble and Arabic silk-screen printing.

Currently, seven projects of restoration of historic buildings are underway with a rate of progress of 65%, according to Fatima Larbi, architect at the DEP, quoted by the official agency APS.