Qualla: El Bey Mosque

El Bey Mosque: Introduction

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mounia.lah.83, CC BY-SA 4.0. For 124 years, the call to prayer did not sound from the minaret of the Souk El Ghezel Mosque. From 1838 to 1962, the building served as the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows of Constantine, its mihrab displaced by an altar, its domes presiding over Catholic masses instead of Friday prayers. When Algeria won independence in 1962, the building was restored to its original purpose. Today the El Bey Mosque stands as one of Constantine's most layered monuments, a structure whose walls have absorbed the devotions of two faiths and the ambitions of two empires.

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Image: Mounia.lah.83 | CC BY-SA 4.0

El Bey Mosque: The Spinning Market Mosque

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chaouki3.14, CC BY-SA 4.0. The mosque takes its original name from the Souk Al-Ghazal, the spinning market where wool was sold and prepared for weaving on the western side of the building. It was built during the reign of Hussein Bey Boukamiya, who ruled Constantine from 1713 to 1736, and it stands between...

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Image: Chaouki3.14 | CC BY-SA 4.0

El Bey Mosque: Domes and Marble Columns

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The mosque's architecture blends Ottoman design with North African sensibility. Its rectangular plan merges on its northern and western sides with the Ahmed Bey Palace. Two main entrances on the southern facade are reached by stone steps. Inside, 30 marble columns on circular bas...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

El Bey Mosque: Cathedral Years

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. In 1838, one year after French forces captured Constantine in a bloody siege, the occupying authorities converted the mosque into a Roman Catholic cathedral. It became the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows and served as the seat of the Bishop of Constantine. The conversi...

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Image: Public domain

El Bey Mosque: Restoration and Return

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Chaouki3.14, CC BY-SA 4.0. Independence in 1962 brought the building full circle. The cathedral was reconverted to a mosque, and the building resumed the function it had served for its first 108 years. The stucco window frames, the arched openings, the knotted windows overlooking the street, all survived t...

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Image: Chaouki3.14 | CC BY-SA 4.0