The Mosque of Emir Abdelkader was our last visit of the afternoon on this day in Constantine. It’s one of the most prominent monuments in Algeria and one of the most important mosques in the Muslim world. Emir Abdelkader was an Algerian religious and military leader who led a struggle against the French colonial invasion in the early 19th century. He was an Islamic scholar who found himself leading a military campaign. He built up a collection of tribesmen and for many years successfully held out against one of the most advanced armies in Europe.

This mosque is an architectural masterpiece. It’s built of marbles and granite with lots of tile, stained glass, and wood carvings. It has two minarets that are 351 feet tall and a dome that is 210 feet high. The idea for building this mosque started in 1968 with a goal of accommodating 10,000 worshippers. It started as a simple mosque but the country’s president took a keen interest and the project grew. It became an incredibly beautiful structure, an impressive mosque, plus an Islamic University. It can now hold perhaps more than 15,000 worshippers in its two large prayer rooms, one for men and one for women.

I had a long, hot walk to get the first photo. My only disappointment with this mosque was that the fountains and water features were empty due to their drought. Otherwise, this photo would bear a resemblance to the Taj Mahal in India.

The next photo is much closer but I still had to stand quite a distance from the mosque to get it all in the photo.

The third photo is the men’s prayer room. This photo might include 30 or 35 percent of the room.

I included this photo to give a glimpse of the details of the marble, granite, woodwork, stained glass, tile, and lattice work.

I will confess to feeling overwhelmed and humbled while visiting this mosque. We were almost the only people on the men’s side and there were a few more women on their side. The whole place was magnificent but near the end, I had to copy a couple of locals and sit down and just be there.