On Wednesday, Algeria inaugurated the world's third-biggest and Africa's largest mosque, which is set to host its first public prayers shortly to mark the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed anniversary.
The mosque, which took a year and a half for completing its construction, will be known as the Jamaa El-Djazair, the modernist structure extends across 27.75 hectares.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was expected to inaugurate the mosque's prayer hall, before his office announced that he had been hospitalized.
Tebboune had gone into self-isolation last week following suspected coronavirus cases among his aides, but the presidency said Tuesday that Tebboune's "state of health does not bring any concern."
It was unclear how many people would be allowed to attend the prayers amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The mosque's interior, in Andalusian style, is decorated in wood, marble and alabaster.
It features six kilometers of Koranic text in Arabic calligraphy, along with turquoise prayer mats.
The mosque aims to be an important theological, cultural and research center, and the complex includes a library that can host a million books.
Featuring geometric architecture, it also boasts the world's tallest minaret -- 267 meters -- fitted with elevators and a viewing platform that looks out over the capital and the Bay of Algiers.
The tallest such structure had previously been a 210-meter minaret in the Moroccan city of Casablanca.
But it has all come at a cost of over $1 billion in public money, according to finance ministry figures.
Here's a collection of photos for Algeria's new mosque:
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