CHARACTERISTICS OF ISLAMIC SCHOOL OF ALGIERIAN ARCHITECTURE: COMBINATION OF NATIONAL AND BORROWED FEATURES IN MOSQUES
Authors: Rezga Kouider , Krupa Michał 
Published: May 2024

The article poses the problem of comparing the national and the borrowed features in the historical mosques of Algeria.
The specificity of the Islamic architectural school of Algeria lies in its diversity, determined by historical factors: in the territories with strong power of local Berber tribes, a regional type of Maghrib mosque, common to Algeria and Morocco, was formed. The situation was different on the sea coast, where numerous conquests caused the layering of many cultures: local Berber, Arab, Ottoman, besides, these were the territories of the former provinces of the Roman Empire with an ancient heritage. A separate issue is the formation of a peculiar Mozabitian (Kharijite) architecture in the cities-ksaras of the Mzab valley in the Sahara desert.
As a result of the analysis of national and borrowed manifestations in objects of different territories, the following typology of the main types of mosques in Algeria is proposed:
a) Maghrib-type mosques (most widespread in the west and northwest, in the north and east they are combined with mosques of other types) with simple geometric shapes, often undecorated on the facade or with a combination of massive walls and thin facade decoration, columnar type (domeless or with a small dome), the naves are parallel to the qibla wall, the intersection of the nave in the interiors is defined by pillars with the formation of arches, the role of the inner courtyard is not as significant as in Ottoman mosques, a prismatic minaret, horseshoe-shaped or semicircular arches, the arch of the mihrab is horseshoe-shaped or in the form of a shell . Marble, natural stone, glazed ceramics, wood carvings are used for decorative decoration;
b) mosques of the Mozabite type (in the valley of the Mzab river) are emphatically simple in form, smaller in size, with very thick walls and small windows, with underground passages and stairs, often without minarets at all (minarets only in a few main mosques and only against the wall of the qiblah or next to it, with the functions of signal towers), the presence of an inner courtyard is optional, in planning, the column-type interior space is divided into several autonomous prayer rooms with their own walls, building materials are very simple and only local, without any decor;
c) mosques of the borrowed Ottoman type (in the north and east) - dome type, with a simultaneous combination of ancient and Byzantine traditions, with an inner courtyard surrounded by galleries with half domes, with minarets of the Ottoman cylindrical shape with conical ends, which never performed the functions of signal towers.
On the basis of the simultaneous examination and analysis of the natural and climatic conditions, historical periods, and cultural traditions of different regions of Algeria, it is proved that the architectural Islamic school of Algeria was formed, although under strong Arab influence in the early period, but with the preservation and gradual development during the reign of the Maghreb dynasties of its own Berber architectural - building traditions. As a result of specific natural and climatic conditions, separate regions with the preservation of their own traditions, protected from external influences, were formed on the territory of Algeria.