We waited an hour for our luggage from the flight from Istanbul, a suitcase came out every minute or two, like in some kind of twisted hidden camera. Everything after that went smoothly: we journalists who were invited to the 7th GECF summit, which gathered the largest gas exporters in the capital of Algeria, were treated like a little water in the palm of our hands. It was made known to us that the media is really the "seventh force" for them, which in Europe, especially here, has not been the case for a long time. We were treated "across the line" everywhere at the airport, the next day, a policeman on a motorcycle was in front of our van, so we walked from the conference center to the hotel in just twenty minutes instead of 60, as shown by the navigation.
The morning before the start of the summit, I decided to spend exploring Algeria, the capital of the African country of the same name, where Europe and the Orient, the remains of ancient civilizations and Ottoman rule, and the 21st century intertwine.
I had a great communication with my driver Hamza: he doesn't speak English, I don't speak Arabic and French. However, Google was there to translate every sentence from Arabic in a few seconds and write it on his phone screen in English, with audio translation. In addition to the attractions I asked him to drive to, he also showed me the places with the best views of the city, which direction the ships to Marseille go, which to Spain and which to Italy. on the 92th anniversary of the independence of Algeria, the building of the Central Post Office of Algeria, which has been converted into a museum, is located in a part of the center reminiscent of French Mediterranean cities.
As he drove me to the conference center, he said, "The Algerian government does not do much to promote and develop tourism, which is a shame. Because Algeria has everything - 60 kilometers from the coast there are mountains where you can ski even in March..."
photo: Robert Choban…the largest minaret in the world;…
On the day of my arrival, I corresponded with Mufti Muhamed Jusufspahić, whom I passed by during the day in Algeria. A few days earlier, he was a guest at the opening of the Djamaa el Djazaï mosque, which is the third largest in the world, after those in Mecca and Medina, with a minaret of 267 meters, the tallest in the world. The prayer hall is 20.000 square meters in size and can accommodate 37.000 believers, while the entire complex is designed for a capacity of 120.000 people. Therefore, the whole of Novi Pazar can fit there. When Hamza and I got to it, the mosque was locked and at the entrance I found very clear and strict rules about how to dress and behave inside the place of worship. Djamaya el Djazaïr was financed by the funds of the Government of Azir, and its construction cost about one billion euros and lasted seven years.
The German companies "KSP Jürgen Engel Architekten" and "Krebs und Kiefer" were responsible for the architectural solution, and the signing of the contract with them in July 2008 was personally attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The Chinese state company China State Construction Engineering was in charge of the construction, which hired 17.000 workers for the job, according to a tried and tested recipe - 10.000 Chinese and 7.000 domestic. I am thinking that if the mosque had been built 50 years ago, during Tito's time, all of this would probably have been done by Yugoslav companies.
When you enter the courtyard of the Bardot Museum, it becomes clear to you why Eugène Delacroix and other European painters of the 19th century were so enamored of the Maghreb. Even on a cloudy day, the light combined with nature and architecture makes these places unique in the whole world. Housed since 1927 in an 18th-century Moorish villa that belonged to Prince Omar, the Bardo Museum fails to impress visitors with its collection. What most people come for is the enchanting architecture, especially the ambience of the courtyard and garden.
photo: Robert Choban...Kazba;...
The Kazba of Algiers is a traditional neighborhood around a citadel that originated as a medina (fortified old town). As a unique Islamic old city with the remains of the citadel, Ottoman palaces and traditional houses, which influenced the shape of many other cities of the Maghreb, it is included in the UNESCO list of world heritage sites in Africa. In addition to numerous preserved hammams (public baths), mosques and alleys (covered markets), there are also traditional houses in which about 50.000 inhabitants live today. There is everything in Kazba - from dresses, to dates and slippers to dolls.
The city is full of lavishly decorated private houses that testify to the wealth of Algeria in the 16th century; I will only mention the palace of Reis Dar Aziz, and the mosques: the Almoravid Mosque el Kebir, which is the oldest in the city, the mosque of Reis Alija Betčnin, the Ottoman Mosque el Jedid with a large dome above four smaller ones, the Ketchua Mosque with two minarets, built in 1794 by Bey Baba Hasa, which I also visited. The ruins of the neighboring building can be seen through its side door. Typical for the Orient - the cleanliness and splendor of "private spaces" and the "dead horse" on the sidewalk, a problem that we also inherited in the Balkans, about which Slobodan Selenić often wrote and spoke.
photo: Robert Choban...the inscription in the basilica
Our Lady of Africa, Notre-Dame-d'Afrique, a Catholic cathedral from 1878 is built on a 124-meter-high rock, dominating the capital. Right next to the gate through which you enter the port of the basilica is the Embassy of the Vatican. Above the altar is an inscription that speaks volumes about the specific history of this region: "Mother of God Africa, pray for us and for Muslims".
From the walls in front of the basilica there is a view of the endless sea, in front of which the Christian cemetery of St. Eugene. 630 French soldiers from both world wars, victims of riots in the capital in 1962, 80 of them, when the French army shot demonstrators who opposed the independence of Algeria, were buried there, as well as a large number of famous people and crowned heads of Africa, among them are certainly the most famous Ranavalona III, the last queen of Madagascar and King Behanzin of Dahomey (today's Benin)...
Before my flight to Paris, I drink coffee in the hotel lobby with Ana Petković, our ambassador to Algeria, an experienced diplomat who arrived in this country a month ago. The close relations between Serbia, formerly Yugoslavia, and Algeria have their roots, of course, in the time of Tito's selfless support for their anti-colonial struggle against France. We had the opportunity to learn much more about this last year at the impressive exhibition at the Museum of African Art in Belgrade, "Yugoslav Testimonies on the Algerian Revolution - Archival Omnibus". The exhibition was largely based on objects from the collection of the founders of this museum - Zdravko Pečar, then in the role of a war correspondent from Algeria, and Veda Zagorac, who was a press attaché at the Yugoslav embassy in Tunisia. They were joined by the oral testimonies of Filmski novosti cameraman, the legendary Stevan Labudović, Red Cross employee Maja Plavšić and the Yugoslav ambassador to Tunisia, Miloš Lalović, who was testified by his wife Borislava.
Directed by Mila Turajlić, these memories - presented in the form of three interviews - gave a human note to historical events that we often perceive only through strict chronologies and exhaustive enumeration of names and events.
After the global redistribution of cards, especially in the energy sector, which happened after the start of the war in Ukraine and the sanctions against Russia, Algeria is becoming an increasingly important link in the supply of gas to the whole of Europe, which was especially discussed at the GECF Summit, so there is an opportunity to perhaps get out and some new benefits of old glory from unaligned times.
