Kechaoua mosque in algiers before it was converted into a cathedral (1794 ad - 1209 ah) / (1830 ad / 1832 ad - 1246 / 1247 ah)

Abstract

Algeria owns a variety of real estate cultural properties between civil, religious and military. These properties great importance as the identity and the mirror that reflects the history of their affiliation, and among the cultural properties around which the topic of research revolves is the religious architecture that dates back to the Ottoman period, in particular the mosques. The city of Algiers is full of many mosques (universal mosques) dating back to the Ottoman period, and the Kachaoua Mosque among them, which is among the cultural properties that witnessed various eras, as the latter had arisen in the Ottoman period, and was exploited during the period of French colonialism since the beginning of the occupation when it was converted To a cathedral, the French colonialism aimed at desecrating the Islamic identity through Christianization and obliterating everything that serves the Islamic religion, as it found the destruction of mosques to reach and exploit them to serve its purposes, so the Katchaoua Mosque in Algiers was among the buildings that witnessed the most horrific destruction, demolition, obliteration and changehold After Algeria gained independence, it was repurposed as a mosque and to pray in it, but despite its restoration, its true form remained in the form of a cathedral that hid its square reality into a rectangular shape, and this reflects the damage caused by French colonialism in various fields, and the architectural field had a share of occupation and looting. The destruction of its identity and history, and religious architecture was among the buildings that took a share of the occupation, and thus the Kachaoua Mosque is an image that reflects the history of Algeria from the Ottoman period onwards, as the latter reflects the image of the Ottoman presence in the city, and reflects the image of the French occupation through Converting it into a cathedral, it also expresses the independence of Algeria and the stability of the political situation as soon as prayer returns to it as it was before in its beginning, and it also expresses the negative effects left by the French occupation after the occupation. damages in various fields. And through what was discussed about the reality of the Katchaoua Mosque today, which appears in the guise of a cathedral, we will try to approximate the true image of it before it was transformed at the time, and here lies the goal of the research. The topic of the research carries a set of elements for its construction, as the latter was addressed to identifying the geographical location that it occupies in the Kasbah of the city of Algiers, and then identifying its historical framework full of events, which starts from the year 1021 AH / 1612 AD, until the French colonization within the year 1830 AD/ 1832 AD - 1246 / 1248 AH, and then recognizing its name in various periods, beginning with the Ottoman period, when it was called Ketchaoua as well as Java, and recognizing its name in the colonial period after it became a cathedral represented in San Philip, then renaming it the Ketchaoua Mosque after gaining independence , in order to later identify its true form based on many literature and oral interviews...etc. The shape of the mosque will be identified from its various external facades and what appears from each facade, and then describe it from the inside by identifying the architectural elements that it contains from the mihrab, minbar, columns, capitals, arches...etc, with identification of the decorative elements in both the internal and external description. Finally, we conclude that the original mosque was destroyed, and only a few remained in the center of the cathedral that replaced it today, so that the rising generations would know that what you see today is a French cathedral.

Keywords

• architecture
• algeria
• kechaoua
• mosque
• cathedral
• origin
• identity
• obliteration.