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PARIS: Seven projects for the rehabilitation of historic monuments and buildings such as the Dey’s palace, the Hassen Pasha palace, the El-Berrani mosque are underway in Algeria. Endowed with a budget of 23 billion dinars (1 Algerian dinar = 0.0064 euro), granted by the Directorate of Public Facilities (DEP), the programs for the restoration of monuments and historic buildings concern a first phase with eleven projects programmed and a second phase with thirty-three others.

Fatma Larbi, architect and project manager, specified that the preliminary studies, the specifications and the invitation to tender for the thirty-three planned projects are being finalized. According to her, the progress rates of the work reached 65% at the Dey’s Palace, 47% at the Deys’ Palace and 98% at the powder keg. Renovation work on the El-Berrani mosque and adjoining monuments reached a level of 50% and 75% respectively for the historic houses on rue Frères-Slimani. As for the works of the Dey’s mosque and the historic house of the Bouhired family, they are finished.

After four years of work, the Bouhired islet has been completely restored. It is a set of four houses including the historic home of the Bouhired M’barek family, a historic place that served as a refuge for emblematic figures of the war of national liberation such as Djamila Bouhired, Hassiba ben Bouali, Larbi ben M’hidi, Ali Amar, known as “Ali la Pointe”, Zohra Drif, Yacef Saâdi and so many others, who took refuge there in hiding places well hidden in the masonry.

For Mehdi Ali-Pasha, heritage architect, approved by the Ministry of Culture and the Arts, and founder of the eponymous architectural firm, who has carried out numerous study and restoration projects in Constantine, Annaba, in Bouira, Oran and particularly at the Kasbah of Algiers where he was commissioned in 2016 by the wilaya of Algiers to restore the Bouhired islet, the site is complex due to the fragility of the buildings and the lack of manpower. qualified work.

Mehdi Ali-Pasha specifies that priority has been given to the craftsmen of the Kasbah of Algiers, such as the coppersmith Saïd Admane, installed in the same district, whose mission was to repair and make all the copper parts necessary for the site. The same applies to the ceramic workshops, called upon for the reproduction of identical pieces. As for the realization of the woodwork, it was entrusted to a craftsman from Tlemcen, specialist in period cabinetmaking.

Heavily damaged and delicate worksites

The architects in charge of the restoration program are unanimous, the construction sites of the Kasbah of Algiers, a site classified as World Heritage, are heavily damaged and difficult to restore. Mehdi Ali-Pasha explains that during the preparation of the restoration study, a very significant state of degradation was observed in the structures, particularly in the center of the block, and a settling of the load-bearing walls causing cracks gaping gaps on the surfaces which can lead to the collapse of certain floors and vaulted coverings, threatening the stability of the residence.

“The rehabilitation of these buildings required significant and heavy consolidation work. Initially, it was a question of stopping the deterioration, reinforcing and safeguarding the structures. Then comes the work of restoring the ceramics, the plasterwork, the columns, the marble and the woodwork,” he observes.

Asked about the complexity of the sites of old Algiers, Houda Bendib, doctor in Architecture and founder of the Ateliers HB-Architectes as well as the Cabinet O millimeter Pres, in Paris, explains to Arab News in French that the degradation of the urban fabric obviously results from the effect of time, but above all of the absence of a strong political will capable of instilling a genuine heritage policy.

“Limiting safeguarding interventions to palaces and bourgeois houses is both a narrow vision of heritage and the sign of urban planning that favors the creation of new spaces over the safeguarding of existing spaces. The whole paradox of urban management is there,” she underlines. “However, it should be noted that the official discourse on the Kasbah has been enriched by the notion of “social rehabilitation”, in other words an urban management closer to the concerns of the inhabitants and the implementation of the exercise of consultation , just as the social groups at the origin of these associations are very heterogeneous”, she adds.

For his part, Athmane Bourras, member of the Casbah Foundation, an association that has been active for three decades, regrets, for his part, the lack of commitment of local authorities regarding calls from civil society to participate in the rehabilitation of collapsed houses or those requiring urgent consolidation.

Same observation for Nabila Fekhardji, president of Fen wa Assala (“Art and authenticity”), an association which works to preserve the material heritage of the Algerian capital, and who, in a statement to Algérie presse service (APS), deplores “ a total lack of coordination between the associations and a break with the public authorities”. It pleads for the establishment of specifications that would allow associations, in collaboration with professionals in the sector such as architects, historians and archaeologists, to provide significant support for projects to restore historic sites in the country.

“It is a question of innovating in terms of management in order to establish incentive measures and ensure that the involvement of the inhabitants and especially the participation of the owners are effective. The experience has shown the importance of the associative movement in heritage rehabilitation operations”, indicates Houda Bendib. “When we study the urban activities of Algiers, a reality jumps out: the users of the city, educated and attached to the past, to the values ​​and to their Algiers heritage, have never been associated with decisions concerning the renovation and the protection of old Algiers. However, many Algerians have a memory of the urban richness and diversity of this historic place,” she concludes.