Algeria - Libraries and museums



The largest libraries in Algeria are those of the University of Algiers (800,000 volumes) and the National Library (over 950,000 volumes) with a specialized collection of Northern African Archaeology. There also exist several sizeable university collections, including the University of Constantine (208,000 volumes), the University de Mentouri (240,000 volumes), and the University d'Oran Es-Senia (200,000 volumes). Other collections of size are the Municipal Library in Constantine (25,000 volumes) and the Aubert Library in Oran (26,000 volumes). The Pasteur Institute in Algiers has a special library of over 47,000 volumes, and the Institute of National Studies in Tiaret has a library of 25,000 volumes.

Museums of importance in Algiers include the Bardo National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography (1928), the National Museum of Fine Arts of Algiers (1930), the National Museum of Antiquities and Islamic Art (1897), and the Museum of the Revolution (1968) with a collection of memorabilia celebrating Algeria's long-fought war of independence against France. Various regional museums are located at Constantine, El Biar (west of Algiers), Oran, Sétif, and Skikda. There is a fine antiquities museum in Cherchell, a decorative arts museum in Ghardaia Oasis, and a botanical garden in Beni-Abbes. The situation of many of Algeria's cultural treasures has been in doubt because of ongoing anti-Western civil terrorism.

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