Great Mosque of Algiers

The Great Mosque of Algiers (Arabic: Djamaa el-Djazair) is the world's third-largest mosque by surface area, covering approximately 400,000 square metres on the waterfront of Algiers, Algeria. Its minaret, at 265 metres, is the tallest in the world. The complex includes a Quranic school, a library, a research centre, and a museum. Construction began in 2012 under a contract with the China State Construction Engineering Corporation, and the mosque was inaugurated in April 2019 after decades of planning and multiple delays. It can accommodate up to 120,000 worshippers.

The mosque was commissioned by the Algerian government as a statement of national religious identity and sovereignty, intended to rank Algeria among the custodians of Islamic heritage. Its scale and Chinese construction provoked public debate in Algeria about cost — estimates range from $1.5 billion to $2.6 billion — and about the country's infrastructure priorities. The design draws on Moorish and Andalusian architectural traditions, reflecting the cultural heritage shared between Algeria and the Iberian peninsula from the medieval period.

On 13 April 2026, Pope Leo XIV — the first American pope — was on an apostolic visit to the Great Mosque of Algiers as part of a North Africa tour when President Trump publicly attacked him over his earlier criticism of US war rhetoric. The mosque visit placed Pope Leo at the symbolic centre of Catholic-Muslim dialogue at the precise moment the Trump-papacy confrontation reached its peak, with the Vatican declining comment and Algeria's government staying silent.