Houbel
Martyrs’ Memorial – Algiers
Houbel
During my stay in Algiers, I went to the martyr’s memorial (Houbel) to take some pictures. Located on the heights of Algiers in the town of El Madania (formerly Salembier). From its 92 meters height of concrete, Maqam E’chahid was inaugurated in 1982 for the 20th anniversary of the independence of Algeria. Imagined by Bachir Yellès, Houbel represents three revolutions: “Cultural, agrarian and industrial” another reading says that the monument symbolizes three periods of the Algerian history: “Resistance to occupation and colonization, War of national liberation, the present and the future of the country. ” These three palm leaves of which Houbel consists are located above the bay of Algiers.
Riadh El Feth
To the north and below Houbel, there’s the Botanical Garden Hamma where Tarzan (1932) was shot. In the West and then in the East respectively the bois des arcades and the projects of Diar El Mahçoul, built by the architect Fernand Pouillon known in Algeria for Aerohabitat and other constructions. Then to the south of Houbel is the esplanade of Riadh El Feth, a mythical shopping mall in the 80s and early 90s where there are concert halls (Ibn Zeydoun), bar and dancing (The triangle) And other souvenir shops…
Salembier
Passing through Salembier I went through the city Diar El Mahçoul wanting to take pictures of the Buildings called “Cité comfort” I was intercepted by the youth of the neighborhood “wled el Houma” they wanted me to make pictures of them with a tagged message On the walls of the city “Doula el haggara” (contemptuous Government) I realized these pictures with in the background the Houbel, without realizing the conditions of life in the comfort projects, which bears very bad its name. A very high human density where the tenants of these buildings lives in very harsh conditions, “socially cruel cases” as described in the newspaper “Liberté” in 2016.
Youth of Diar el Mahçoul – Salembier Algiers
Mahdi Aridj Photography
C’est juste magnifique
The Blaze: Territory
Sincèrement la photo ma touchée
Man this is hilarious! “Houbel” is just a nickname given by Algiers’ citizens, and not a good one actually.
Houbel is one of the many Gods in the “Djahiliya” era. It became famous following “El Rissala” (The Message), a religious movie about our Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him). In one of the critical scnese, we see Billal being tortured by his masters, they dropped a massive rock on his chest and forcing him to pledge allegiance to Houbel “Edkor Houbel!!”, all while Billal kept repeating “A7ad … A7ad” (Allah the only God) because he believes in Islam.
Anyway, using Houbel as a serious name to present this monument is borderline insulting. You should reconsider otherwise your whole article sounds totally out of place.
Nice photos by the way.