Prayer Times in Constantine, Algeria

Praying in Constantine

Constantine, in northeastern Algeria, is one of the oldest cities in the world — a 2,500-year-old Numidian capital perched on a plateau split by the spectacular Rhumel gorge. Around 450,000 people live in this 'City of Bridges', where eight spans — including the vertiginous Sidi M'Cid suspension bridge — cross a 200-metre-deep chasm in the middle of the city.

The Emir Abdelkader Mosque, completed in 1994, is one of Algeria's largest — its twin 107-metre minarets and vast prayer hall dominate the plateau, a modern statement of the city's Islamic identity alongside the older mosques of the casbah. At 36.4°N on the high plains, Constantine's winters are cold and its summers fierce: June Fajr near 3:35 AM with Maghrib past 7:55 PM, December Fajr around 6:15 AM with Maghrib near 5:15 PM. During Ramadan, the bridges and gorge viewpoints fill at Maghrib as families watch the sun drop into the chasm, then descend to the old town for chorba soup, bourek and the city's famous honey-drenched makroudh. Constantine was the capital of the Numidian kingdom under King Massinissa in the 3rd century BC, and its museum holds some of North Africa's finest Roman mosaics. The Sidi M'Cid bridge, completed in 1912, was the world's highest suspension bridge when it opened.