The best museums Algiers

In the face of the precedent, in a building with modern lines, the exhibitions focus mainly on the struggles for independence conducted by both the numides kings and the opponents of Ottoman domination. From a sword offered to the Emir Abdelkader by Napoleon III to the personal objects of Colonel Amirouche or Ali la Pointe which was illustrated during the Battle of Algiers (1957), passing through the guillotine of Serkadji prison (ex Barbarossa), the collections are enlightening.

Inaugurated in 1897, the Antiques Museum is the oldest museum in Algeria and Africa. It houses a collection of classical antiquities (sculptures, mosaics, bronzes…) uncovered in the main archaeological sites of Algeria (bronzes hall, marble hall, court), as well as a collection of Muslim art from the Maghreb (Algerian, Moroccan, Tunisian), the West (Spanish art) and the Near East (Egypt, Syria, Turkey, Iran).): pottery, furniture, urban and rural objects, earthenware. Among the major pieces of the Islamic Arts Section, the minbar of the Great Mosque of Algiers and the carved wooden door of the Ketchaoua Mosque.

This former agricultural estate belonged to the early nineteenth to Ra Hamidou, the Exiled Admiral of the Dey d'Algiers. Classified in 1945, the two buildings were so renovated and renovated, especially by Pouillon who lived there, that they have little to see with the original palaces. The tiles were brutally deposited in the 1980 s and the attempts to renovate the late 1990 s were not able to revive the walls.

This ancient «Moorish» villa, nestled in the heart of a garden, has very interesting collections of most of the remains found during excavations in Algeria. Classified as a historic monument since September 1985, the museum, inaugurated in April 1930, is composed of two buildings that could be used for the visit alone. It contains traditional elements of Ottoman architecture (low doors, quarrels, green courtyard, etc.) decorated with precious wood, ceramics and wrought iron. A time of General Exelmans, the Ottoman part was built at the end of the th century by a Tunisian who gave him the name of the palace of his hometown, in his suburb, then called Mustapha. For summer stays, the "djenane" was surrounded by gardens and orchards full of fountains and basins; today it houses the collections of ethnography. The museum's courtyard shows different aspects of Algerian life (Moorish coffee, kitchen, interior interior, crafts, etc.). A room shows the variety of traditional costumes in Algeria. On the top floor, the exhibitions are dedicated to the Hoggar. The second building dates from colonial times and was built in 1879 by a certain Mr Joret who wanted to add dependencies to the old home. Eight large rooms, bathed by the light of the day provided by large glass windows, host prehistoric collections, cave carvings with the remains of Tin Hinan, the legendary ancestor of the Tuareg, deposited here near the jewels found in the tomb of Abalessa near Tamanrasset. See also the fragments of jaws and crests of a Atlanthropus mauritanicus that lived about five hundred thousand years ago in Ternifine, in the region of Mascara.

It is in an ancient residence where Barbarossa lived, transformed into a home for girls and then hotel de ville by the colonial administration, which today we invite the Museum of Folk Arts and Traditions. Despite the disappearance of beautiful pieces scattered at Independence, the collections of carpets, pottery, embroidery and sumptuous jewels of the Aurès and Du remain interesting and enter the museum also allows to see the interior of a Casbah residence, even though it is not the most beautiful. In the rooms we also discover some nice illuminations and miniatures, a little forgotten art in Algeria, as well as a "Eugénie Salon" of the Empress who stayed here in 1860. The museum hosts artistic expression workshops for the Enfants children and temporary exhibitions of photos or painting.

The Ra palace (captain), built in the second half of the 1576 th century to host the Ministry of the Navy, on the location of the Ez-Zoubia bordj built in, is an architectural ensemble comprising four buildings of the colour of sand. The first, the most interesting of the quality of its architecture and decoration, was the palace of the ra. The pierced walls of a multitude of small windows are covered with colourful mosaics reminiscent of the luxury and refinement of a detail Ottoman era. The sculpted ceilings are beautiful. The second, simpler building welcomed the farmer's farmer while the last part was a set of small buildings for the sailors and fishermen. The palace became at the beginning of the French occupation the residence of the counter-admiral in charge of the management of the port, the American consulate, the residence of the Duke of Aumale and the library before being abandoned and looted after 1962. Saved from imminent destruction, it has been restored to host temporary exhibitions of contemporary art.