Algeria is the second largest country in Africa. Long before French colonial rule, it had already passed through centuries of shifting power. In ancient times, the region was known as Numidia. During the medieval period, local Berber tribes and dynasties governed the land. Then came the Ottomans, who held control from 1516 to 1830 — a stretch of more than three centuries. That era ended abruptly when French forces invaded Algiers in 1830. From 1848 onward, France administered the entire Mediterranean region of Algeria not as a colony, but as an integral part of the French nation, divided into départements just like metropolitan France.
The images in this collection were produced using the photochrom process, a technique developed in the late 19th century that applied color to black-and-white photographs through lithographic printing. The results were vivid, detailed, and widely distributed as postcards and travel souvenirs across Europe. Together, these more than 50 pictures document Algeria’s ports, streets, mosques, markets, and the people who filled them — all captured in the 1890s, decades into French colonial rule but well before the 20th century’s upheavals.
Algiers sat at the heart of French Algeria. Its harbor was one of the busiest ports on the Mediterranean, handling both military and commercial traffic. The city’s architecture reflected its layered history — Ottoman-era mosques and narrow Casbah alleyways existed alongside wide French boulevards and colonial government buildings. Views from elevated points like the Mustapha district revealed the full sweep of the city, from the white-washed buildings cascading down the hillside to the blue expanse of the sea below.
The harbor of Algiers was a defining feature of the city. From the lighthouse, the full scale of the port became clear — piers, ships, and the admiralty buildings all organized around a natural bay. French warships were a regular presence in these waters, a constant reminder of military authority over the territory. Steamships like the SS Normannia, a Hamburg America Line vessel, also called at Algiers, connecting it to European ports and carrying passengers, goods, and mail.
Religious life in Algiers was visible at every turn. The Mosque of Abderrahman, the Great Mosque on Marine Street, and the Mosque of El Kebir — with its interior fountain — were all active centers of worship in the 1890s. The El Kebir mosque was originally the Cathedral of Saint-Saveur before being converted to a mosque during the Ottoman period. Alongside these Islamic structures, the French colonial presence had added its own religious architecture. The Cathedral of Algiers and the Basilica of Notre-Dame d’Afrique, perched on a cliff overlooking the sea, were both prominent landmarks by this time.
The cemeteries of Algiers told their own story about the city’s mixed population. Moorish families visited gravesites as a regular part of religious observance, and photographs from the period show them gathered among the tombstones in what was a routine social and spiritual practice. Notre-Dame d’Afrique, completed in 1872, drew both Catholic worshippers and tourists. Its interior was decorated in a Byzantine style, and an inscription above the altar read: “Notre-Dame d’Afrique, pray for us and for the Muslims.”
The Governor’s Palace and the Government Square were the administrative nerve centers of French Algeria. The palace’s interior was furnished in a style that blended French formality with Moorish decorative elements — a visual expression of the colonial project itself. Nearby, the museum of Algiers housed artifacts and artworks, its entrance hall photographed from multiple angles as if to emphasize the cultural weight France was placing on the territory.
The port’s military dimension was impossible to overlook. French warships anchored in the harbor were photographed repeatedly, reflecting both their visual dominance over the bay and their strategic importance to France’s hold on the region. Passenger traffic moved alongside the warships — travelers and settlers disembarking from large steamers onto Algerian soil, watched by dockworkers and onlookers.
Street life in Algiers was lively and varied. The photochrom images capture Arab jugglers performing in open spaces, groups of men gathered in conversation, and the cafés where Algerians sat and socialized. Moorish coffee houses were gathering points for local men, and the sight of people disputing loudly in public was common enough to be documented as a scene worth photographing. The city’s streets carried camel traffic alongside foot traffic, and vendors moved through the crowds selling food and goods.
The Luce Ben Aben school in Algiers was an institution established to preserve and teach traditional Algerian crafts. Arab embroidery and carpet-making were both taught and practiced there, with Moorish women working at looms and embroidery frames under supervised conditions. The school also documented the preparation of traditional food — including couscous — which gave European audiences a window into domestic Algerian life. These images were produced deliberately for Western consumption, presenting Algerian culture through a lens shaped by colonial attitudes.
Beyond Algiers, the photochrom photographers documented several other Algerian cities. Biskra, an oasis town south of the Aurès Mountains, offered narrow streets in its old quarter, an active market, and a mosque that stood at the center of local life. A marabout — a domed shrine marking the tomb of a holy man — was photographed near Biskra, reflecting the deep presence of Sufi traditions in the region. Biskra was also a popular destination for European tourists seeking desert scenery, which partly explains why it was captured so thoroughly.
Blida, a town at the foot of the Tell Atlas mountains, was known for its orange groves and its busy Arab market. The “sacred wood” near Blida — a grove considered holy by the local population — was also photographed, capturing a landscape with deep spiritual meaning for Algerians. Bône (present-day Annaba), on the northeastern coast, was a port city with its own street merchants selling food in the open air.
Constantine, in northeastern Algeria, was among the most dramatic cities in the country. Built on a plateau surrounded by deep gorges cut by the Rhumel River, it was connected to the surrounding land by stone bridges spanning enormous drops. The great bridge, the cascading waterfalls, the natural rock arch, and the ravine views all feature in this collection. The city’s geography had made it a nearly impregnable stronghold throughout its history, and even in photographs its sheer physical force is striking.
El Kantara, whose name means “the bridge” in Arabic, was a mountain gateway connecting the Tell plateau to the Saharan south. The gorge there — the El Kantara ravine — was one of the most photographed natural features in Algeria during the 1890s. The narrow canyon walls, the river running through the bottom, and the ancient Roman bridge all made it a landmark that travelers and photographers sought out consistently. Philippeville (present-day Skikda), a coastal city built on the site of ancient Rusicade, also appears in this collection, as does Sidi Okba, a small town in the Biskra region built around the tomb of the Arab commander Uqba ibn Nafi.
Back in Algiers, panoramic views from the Mustapha district showed the city at its full scale. The harbor and admiralty, the dense rooftops of the Casbah, and the open public squares all appear in wide-angle compositions that give a clear sense of how the city was organized in the 1890s. Cafés remained a constant fixture of Algerian public life — places where men gathered to drink coffee, talk, and pass time under the shade of awnings, watched by the camera from a respectful distance.
