Effort to Save Algiers' Old Town

With its labyrinthine alleyways, the Casbah of Algiers has often been the site of bloody battles. Now the Algerian government wants to develop the symbolically important quarter into a tourist attraction. Cornelia Derichsweiler reports

The Casbah of Algiers (photo: AP)
Today, Algiers' Old Town, a district of architectural and historical significance, is threatened by decay

​​Twice daily a herd of donkeys trots through the Casbah. Led by the city's sanitation workers, the little troop collects trash in the tiny lanes of the Old Town. A modern garbage truck would be completely useless in this tangle of alleys and stairways.

The labyrinth of houses, picturesquely located above the sea, has always been a popular refuge for rebels. In the 1950s Algerian freedom fighters waged embittered resistance against the soldiers of the French colonial power on every corner. Shells exploded, torture and murder was widespread.

Flight and homecoming

In the 1990s the Casbah once again became the center of a conflict. Fanatical Islamists barricaded themselves in the buildings of the Old Town, waging a guerilla war against the military and massacring civilians as well.

Many inhabitants such as the carpenter Khaled Mahiout abandoned the quarter. His mother, a sister and two of his brothers were shot in the Casbah by Islamists. "My oldest brother was a policeman", explains the 53-year-old man. "They wanted to eradicate the whole family as a punishment."

Mahiout was able to flee in time with his wife and eight children. He took shelter with relatives in the provinces and scraped by with odd jobs. When he returned ten years later, his parental home was destroyed. The Islamists had smashed everything to pieces. Now Khaled is trying to restore everything to its previous condition with the help of his sons.

In a dark, windowless room on the ground floor of his house, Mahiout is making tables and chairs again. Next door a goldsmith has set up shop. In the bar across the way men converse loudly over mint tea.

Life is gradually returning to the Casbah. The main street is filled with the bustle of the market. Mountains of tomatoes, oranges and eggplants are piled on the tradesmen's carts, the scent of cinnamon and cumin hangs in the air.

A unique architectural monument

Mahiout loves this quarter with all its colors and smells. His roof terrace affords a panorama view of the sea and the whitewashed buildings of the quarter, many of them from the Ottoman Period (1516-1830).

The Casbah of Algiers, one of the largest Old Towns in the Arab world, was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1992. But the stucco is crumbling almost everywhere, and many buildings are semi-dilapidated or have collapsed – even though the Algerian government passed a law declaring the restoration of the Casbah to be the most important historic preservation task.

Not only is the quarter a unique architectural monument, due to its role in the struggle for independence it is also an important symbol for the Algerians. At the same time, there are hopes of drawing tourists to Algiers again.

No one knows how much it will cost to rebuild the Old Town, where 50,000 people live in extremely close quarters – not even the head architect, Guellal Said. He has a budget of 8 billion dinars, or 115 million US dollars. This money must suffice for him to restore the many publicly-owned buildings as well as streets, squares and the crumbling sewage system.

Several palaces and mosques already shine again in new splendor, while others are being faithfully restored to their original state, a delicate and laborious task. These are merely isolated jewels amidst an architectural environment which in many places resembles an expanse of rubble.

80 percent of the Old Town is under private ownership, the architect says. "Most people here are poor. Often entire families live in just one room." Many will not make use of the city's offer to take over 50 percent of the renovation costs, as they are unable to raise their own share. It will take a long time before the Old Town is built up again.

Squalid dwellings

Children play soccer in the narrow alleys, and in the tea houses old men proudly tell tales from the old days. A 70-year-old man with a grey moustache and dark sunglasses is introduced as a freedom fighter. The man, Mohammed, is lame in one leg. In the Algerian war he was tortured by the French for months, his friends report reverently.

Nearly every one of the men here in the tea house once fought on the side of the National Liberation Front against the occupiers. One of the veterans rummages in his pocket for a yellowed photo that shows him with a gun. He, too, is a child of the Casbah. Today he lives here in a damp room along with his sister, his daughter and her children.

The man suffers from diabetes, and his pension is pitiful. Like many in the quarter, he is disappointed by the government – he never got any recognition for his sacrifices in the struggle for independence. Not only is the architecture of the Casbah crumbling, its inhabitants feel abandoned to their fates.

Cornelia Derichsweiler

© Neue Zürcher Zeitung/Qantara.de 2007

Translated from the German by Isabel Cole

Qantara.de

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