ALGERIA en photos

Tlemcen. Highlight of the dull West

Tlemcen stands out as a seldom well- conducted example on mixture between Islamic and French architecture. In Tlemcen you'll find the most outstanding mosques of Algeria, and the French part of the city reigns among the nicest in the whole of North Africa. And the altitude of Tlemcen makes the place a nice hideout during the hottest summer months.

When in Tlemcen, you can visit the mosque and tomb built around Sidi Bou Mediene. This is one of the nicest tombs in Maghreb, and holds another attraction, with being the namer of the second president of Algeria, Houari Boumedienne, who changed his name in 1956. This act must be compared to Algeria's former reputation of having been among the countries most willing to leave old popular traditions behind, in order to enter the modern ages

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600 km east: Algiers
80 km west: MOROCCO

Tlemcen is a town in Northwestern Algeria, and the seat of government for the wilaya of the same name. Its population is an estimated 130,000. The name comes from the Berber word "tilmisane," for springs.
Located inland, it is located in the center of a region known for its olive plantations and vineyards. The city has developed leather, carpet, and textile industries, which it ships to the port of Rashgun for export.
Its centuries of rich history and culture have made the city a center of a unique blend of music and art. Its textiles and handicrafts, its elegant blend of Arab, Berber, and French cultures, and its cool climate in the mountains have made it an important center of tourism in Algeria. It is home to two beautiful tombs - that of Sidi Bou Mediene, whose tomb adjoins to a mosque, and Houari Boumédiènne, the second president of Algeria. It also has an international airport.

History
Tlemcen was founded by the Romans in the 4th century C.E. as a military outpost on the Berber frontier. The 11th century Almoravid settlement at Tagrart merged with the city and rose to prominence as a major trading center in the region. It was an important see of the Roman Catholic Church in the century in which it was built, where it was the center of a diocese. Its bishop, Victor, was a prominent representative at the Council of Carthage in 411, and its bishop Honoratus was exiled in 484 by the Vandal king Huneric for denying Arianism. It was a center of a large Christian population for many centuries after the city's Arab conquest in 708. In the later eighth century and the ninth century, the city became a center of the Kharijite sect.
Tlemcen was the capital of the Abd-el-Wadid (Ziyyanids) kingdom of Tlemcen, whose flag was a blue crescent pointing upwards on a white field. The kingdom of Tlemcen grew rapidly after its foundations in 1282 to control most of the Atlas Mountains to Tunisia at its height in the 15th century. When the Spanish took the city of Oran from the kingdom in 1509, continuous pressure from the Berbers prompted the Spanish to attempt a counterattack against the city of Tlemcen (1543), which was deigned by the Papacy to be a crusade. The Spanish failed to take the city in the first attack, although the strategic vulnerability of Tlemcen caused the kingdom's weight to shift toward the safer and more heavily fortified corsair base at Algiers.
The ruler of Tlemcen is reported to have been advised by a Jewish viceroy named Abraham, who, in the time of the Inquisition of Torquemada, opened the gates of Tlemcen to hordes of Jews and Moors fleeing Spain. Abraham is said to have supported them with his own money and with the tolerance of the king of Tlemcen.
In 1553, the kingdom of Tlemcen came under the protection of the Ottoman Empire, who too were fighting a naval war against the Spaniards across the Mediterranean, and the Kingdom of Tlemcen became another vassal of the Sultan in Constantinople. Tlemcen and the Algerian provinces gained effective independence in their own affairs in 1671, although Tlemcen was no longer the seat of government that it once was, and its grandeur was much reduced from the days of its great kings. The Spanish were evicted from Oran in 1792, but thirty years later they were replaced by the French, who seized Algiers. A French fleet bombarded Algiers in 1834, at which point the dey capitulated to French rule; a broad coalition of Berbers and Arabs continued to resist, coordinated loosely at Tlemcen. The great Algerian warrior, Abd al-Kader, fought with incredible skill and valor, but his defeat in 1844 at Isly ended his dreams of a new Algeria.
Tlemcen was a vacation spot and retreat for French settlers in Algeria, who found it to be far more temperate than Oran or Algiers. The city adapted and became more cosmopolitan, with a unique outlook on art and culture, and its architecture and urban life evolved to accommodate this new sense. In the independence movements of the mid-twentieth century, it was relatively quiet, reflecting the city's sense of aloofness from the turbulence of Algiers.
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Tiaret, région du centre ouest algérien, Tahert Capitale des Rostemides. fondée en 787 par Ibnou Rostom

Les Kharedjites sont partisans d'un calife élu par la communauté et non plus héréditaire: Tout fidèle, s'il en est digne, peut-être choisi comme calife en dehors de tout privilège de race ou de clan. Cette doctrine égalitaire répond aux exigences d'un peuple pauvre et épris d'absolu. C'est un persan , Ibn Rostom, qui fonde, au nom de cette doctrine , le royaume de Tahert(787).

Le royaume de Tahert devient vite florissant. L'imam, élu par la communauté, mène une vie d'ascète, dans un souci de purification; il se nourrit de lait et dort sur un coussin, ne touche jamais d'argent de ses mains on lui rend visite de loin, car il gouverne justement, dans le respect du Coran et sous le contrôle des docteurs;

L'organisation de la société repose sur une économie communautaire; des percepteurs prélèvent la dîme sur les récoltes et les troupeaux et répartissent le produit entre tous. Ce royaume paisible ne saura se défendre contre les troupes chiites(911) et après la destruction de Tahert, les kharédjites émigreront aux confins du Sahara, à Ouargla et au Mzab, où vivent toujours leurs descendants.

Pour avoir une idée de la situation de Tiaret et de sa région, il faut se placer devant la porte du Sersou à la sortie sud de la redoute. De cet emplacement, la vue embrasse un paysage merveilleux. Un immense plateau s'étendant à l'infini comme une mer aux teintes ocres puis violettes. Seule la montagne carrée,
Djebel Sidi el Abed, omniprésente accroche le regard. Au loin on distingue comme émergeant d'un océan calme, la chaîne montagneuse du Nador et pareil à une île, avec son pic élevé à 1 530 mètres le Raz Fortaz. C'est dans ce massif montagneux du Oudjila à Taguine que l'Emir Abd el-Kader se cacha, après la prise de sa smalah.

La région de Tiaret se trouve au centre d'un relief montagneux d'où descendent les premières eaux de l'oued Mina, l'oued Rhiou, le Nahr Ouassel.
Au pied des remparts, au Sud et à l'Ouest s'étend la zone qui deviendra Tiaret et que l'on nommait alors Sidi Khaled. L'oued Tolba ou oued Tiaret traverse Sidi Khaled en formant de petites cascades qui arrosent des jardins maraîchers et des vergers. Au pied de la redoute, quelques sources déversent leurs eaux dans l'oued Tolba. Au bas de la colline Sidi Khaled, la source du figuier Aïn Kerma aux eaux fraîches et abondantes rejoint, elle aussi, l'oued Tolba. L'oued Kerma descend de la Smalah et rejoint la Petite Jumenterie . D'autres oueds alimentent la zone, derrière Sidi Khaled, près du cimetière mozabite, l'oued Khaled descend vers ce qui deviendra l'abattoir. Au-dessus du Camps Barraqué coule la source dite des 3 baqués. Plus à l'Ouest, l'oued Mesguida coule dans la forêt à la Fontaine Gibbon.

Tiaret s'étend sur les pentes du Djebel Guezoul à une altitude de 1 086 mètres. Les hauteurs au dessus du col de Guertoufa culminent à 1 196 mètres, à 1 121 mètres pour Sidi Khaled et à 1 221 mètres pour le Djebel Guitna, au Nord du champ de tir.
Dans ses alentours immédiats, les nécropoles de djedars perpétuent le souvenir d'un puissant royaume
Une ligne ferroviaire à voie étroite reliait Tiaret à Relizane depuis 1889, où elle croisait la ligne d'Oran à Alger. De Relizane, on rejoignait Mostaganem depuis 1884. La ligne était exploitée par la compagnie franco-algérienne de l'Ouest algérien