The Transformation Of Churches Into Mosques. The Ketchaoua Mosque In Algeria As An Exemplar

Abstract

Abstract: The epoch of French colonial dominion in Algeria engendered not only residential, civic, and martial edifices but also a compendium of Christian sanctuaries, notably churches, which endure to this day as testimonials to a consequential chapter in Algerian annals. Subsequent to Algeria's attainment of sovereignty, governmental authorities, buoyed by the native populace, expeditiously embarked upon the nationalization of ecclesiastical edifices, juxtaposing them with other establishments. Predominantly, these structures underwent conversion into mosques, whilst a fraction was repurposed as repositories of art and history. The transmutation of churches and ancillary houses of worship into mosques assumes paramount import in Algeria's historical narrative, signifying an earnest endeavor to validate and underscore the nation's Islamic ethos—a facet relentlessly undermined by the French colonizers through the erection of Christian churches and the repurposing of myriad sacred sites into Christian places of veneration. Authoritative Algerian statistics bear witness to the transformation of more than six hundred non-Islamic places of worship into mosques following Algeria's proclamation of independence, with a vestige thereof in significant urban centers, including Algiers, Annaba, and Oran, retaining their original vocation to the present day. This academic inquiry serves as an illumination of the sovereign Algerian state's experience in the conversion of French ecclesiastical establishments into mosques. It accomplishes this by elucidating and scrutinizing the paradigmatic instance of the Ketchaoua Mosque in the Algerian capital. This architectural jewel, which was originally reconfigured into the Saint Philip Cathedral during the era of French colonialism, subsequently underwent restoration to its pristine role as a mosque following the nation's emancipation. Keywords: Ketchaoua Mosque, Cathedral, Functional Conversion, Algeria, Identity