Grande Mosquée de Blida

Ottoman-era central mosque rebuilt after the 1825 earthquake

The Grand Mosque sits one block south of the Place des Martyrs and has been the religious heart of Blida since the Ottoman foundation of the city in the 16th century. The current building, rebuilt after the 1825 earthquake, is a low whitewashed structure with a single square minaret and an interior of horseshoe arches on slender marble columns.

The atmosphere is unhurried; locals come and go between the five daily prayers. Non-Muslim visitors may look in from the doorway outside prayer times if they dress modestly and remove their shoes. The neighbouring covered souk, on the same square, is the city's main market — spices, olives, dates, and produce from the surrounding orchards.

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The original Grande Mosquée was destroyed by the great earthquake of 2 March 1825, which flattened most of the medina and killed roughly seven thousand people. The current mosque was rebuilt on the same footprint a few years later; the minbar and one wing of the mihrab are said to be fragments salvaged from the older building.

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