TABJ – 28 May – Earlier this month the foundations were laid for the building of a ‘mega-mosque’ in Algiers. The $1.3 billion mosque will have the world’s highest minaret at 270 metres tall. Its prayer room will be able to accommodate 120,000 worshippers. The mosque will also house a library with one million books and manuscripts, a museum and an Islamic research centre. It is due to be completed in 2015 and will be built by China State Construction Engineering Corporation, reported Al Arabiya.
The Hassan II mosque in Casablanca, Morocco, currently has the tallest minaret at 210 metres high and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina is 105 metres tall.
Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the Algerian President, was reported to have said that he wanted to “leave his mark” with the impressively tall mosque.