Skikda was founded as Philippeville in 1838 by French forces under General Galbois, named after King Louis-Philippe. The town was built on a military grid from scratch — there was no significant earlier settlement on the hilltop — and its regular plan of arcaded streets, a central square, and civic buildings in French provincial style survives largely intact.
Walking the old town centre reveals the characteristic features of French North African urbanism: wide main streets with covered arcades on the ground floor, limestone facades with shuttered windows, and public buildings in a Beaux-Arts or neo-Moorish register. The Regional Theatre of Skikda and the Palace of Culture are among the more prominent civic landmarks. This type of colonial urban fabric is well preserved in Skikda compared to larger Algerian cities that have expanded and altered more dramatically since independence.
The streets around the main square repay slow walking. Many of the ground-floor arcades now house small shops, cafes, and workshops — the colonial skeleton filled with contemporary Algerian life.