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Small history of the Kasbah of Algiers

With the origin the word "Kasbah" indicated the citadel which overhung the city "the médina", little by little the term included the city itself. The ramparts which protected the Kasbah, as well as the top and the bottom of the city disappeared today. "Building their kasbah, the old ones had reached with the masterpiece of architecture and of town planning" Corbusier said. The Kasbah of Algiers was registered on the List of the world inheritance of humanity in December 1992. "Kasbah is commonly called" the zone including/understanding the Kasbah itself (fortress) and all the old town of el- Djazaïr located between this fort and the edge of sea. In 1516, the Turkish corsair Aldine Khaïr installs his capital in Algiers. He makes a city strengthened of it by building imposing ramparts, which are at the origin of the Kasbah. Beyond its artistic richness, the old city is an invaluable witness of the history of Algeria. The Kasbah extends indeed on 45 hectares and testifies to a homogeneous urban form in an original and broken site (118 meters of unevenness). The richness of the city results in interior decorations of the dwellings, often ordered around a central square court making atrium. The tortuous and sloping streets constitute also an element characteristic of the old city it also shelters twelve mosques of which the Djamâa mosque to el-Kébir of XIe century.