Ali Bitchin Ali Bitchin ( born circa 1560 and assassinated in 1645 ) was a " renegade " ( Christian converted to Islam ) who made his fortune in Algiers through privateering . Bitchin ( or Bitchnin ) was believed to be born with the family name of Piccini or Puccini or Piccinino in Venice . He was a Grand Admiral of Algiers and is known for a mosque he built in the district of Zoudj - Aïoun in the old city ( Casbah ) , which still bears his name today . Bitchin became particularly well known through the captivity narratives published by Emanuel D ' Aranda , his slave for about a year from 1640 to 1641 . Dispute lingers about whether Bitchin should be regarded as having held the post of Governor of Algiers because of his very brief but very hypothetical seizure of power in 1645 . Biography . Bitchnin was part of a group of people captured in 1578 , by Hassan Veneziano the King of Algiers at the time , while aboard a Venetian ship . The captive Bitchnin was described by Cervantes , who was a slave in Algiers from 1575 to 1580 , as " Tall , thin , pale , scanty beard , bright eyes and bloody , haughty and cruel with this foolproof bravery and relentless energy " . Bitchnin , only a ten year old boy at the time , was bought from the Babel Boustan slaves market ( current fishery ) for 60 golden dinars , by the Raïs Fettah - Allah Ben - Khodja , from whom he learned privateering . With the exception of Rais Hamidou who lived in the late eighteenth century , no pirate was as much liked as Ali Bitchin . Under his command , the Algerian Navy assured her supremacy over the Mediterranean , blithely crossing the Straits of Gibraltar and pushing all the way to the Arctic Circle . Bitchnin ' s privateers entered the Atlantic Ocean and ascended to Ireland . They managed to attack Madeira . Always fearless , they often attacked heavier vessels from their light boats regardless of the number of enemies . They resisted the most violent storms , appeared unexpectedly , and taunted their enemy with their wild audacity . Bitchnin became the foster father of Algiers by the countless riches confiscated and imported on his ships to the city . He thus contributed to the apparent opulence of the Algerian capital . Bitchin has left a trace of himself in the Regency of Algiers between 1620 and 1645 , the date of his death . In 1622 , he had built the Ali Bitchnin Mosque . Between 1621 to 1645 , he was the supreme head of the Taifa ( corporation of the Rais ) , and took on the title Grand Admiral of Algiers . His wealth became huge . He owned a palace in the city , a home in the countryside , several galleys and thousands of slaves . His large slave holdings did not prevent him from feeding them a simple piece of bread or biscuit , yet not every day . The Mosque . Tradition says that when Ali Bitchin saw Princess Lalla Lallahoum , the daughter of Ben Ali , Sultan of the Kabyle people of Algiers , for the first time , he could not resist the desire to love her ; she was considered the most beautiful woman of all . All his senses were troubled , and his days restless . Accompanied by Lalla N ' fiça , widow of his mentor , Raïs Allah Fettah Ben - Khodja , Bitchin went to Ben Ali seeking the hand of his daughter . Bitchin placed at the foot of the beautiful princess carpets of Persia , silks and brocades of the Levant , diamonds from India , Peru ' s gold and much more . Lalla Lallahoum regarded with indifference these riches : " No , she said , I have nothing to do of all this , I demand that my suitor build a mosque to prove his faith " . Ali Bitchin Mosque was built that same year , in 1622 . Death and Legacy . Towards 1639 , the Algerian navy , under the command of Ali Bitchin , suffered extensive damage alongside the Ottoman fleet against the Venetians in Avlona ( modern - day Vlorë , Albania ) on the Adriatic Sea . The Turkish Sultan accordingly promised compensations to the King of Algiers , but never sent the promised subsidies for the reconstruction of the Algerian fleet . Raising the legitimate anger of the Raïs , Bitchin made the decision not to aid the Turkish Navy in the future . During 1645 , Sultan Ibrahim summoned all the Algerian warships to fight the Knights of Malta and the Venetians . Of course Bitchin and his pirates refused to attend . This " disobedience " was interpreted by the Sultan as an act of high treason . The Sultan secretly gave orders to his minions to poison Bitchin . According to public opinion , it was his servant , paid with gold , who plotted and carried out the assassination of Bitchin , by poisoning his coffee . Bitchin was buried in Djebanet El Bashawet ( cemetery of the Pashas ) in the Bab El Oued neighborhood , and was unearthed with many others in 1831 . In fact the French invaders later in 1832 transformed his Mosque into a Roman Catholic church calling it " Notre Dame des Victoires " , as they did the Ketchaoua Mosque of the lesser Casbah . In doing this , they profaned the " Djebanet El Bashawet " . New buildings were built upon the graves . Anne Jean Marie René Savary donated the cemetery lands to several officers who divided them into parcels . Without qualms , they unearthed the bones that were shipped to Marseilles . As evidenced by the letter Ibrahim Pasha wrote to the King of France on 2 February 1831 : " The greatest pain that was made to our hearts is to destroy our cemeteries and to expose the desecrated remains of our ancestors . . . Such injustice is painful to bear . This is contrary to all religions . . . " Dr . Segaud wrote in an article published in the " Semaphore of Marseilles " , bearing date of 2 March 1832 : " I saw The Josephine ship that arrived in Algiers loaded with bones , and human skulls , and of corpses recently unearthed . "