Overview
- The mosque held public centenary events on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, with Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez participating in ceremonies that drew media attention.
- Built after World War I and inaugurated on July 15, 1926, the Grande Mosquée was created by the French state to honor an estimated 100,000 Muslim soldiers who died fighting for France.
- Its design by Maurice Tranchant de Lunel on the former Pitié hospital site is famous for Andalusian‑style features such as paired double columns, multicolored zelliges, carved stucco, precious woods and wrought iron.
- Rector Chems‑Eddine Hafiz framed the centenary as proof of the mosque's civic role, describing it as a cultural bridge with Algeria and stressing the institution’s involvement in heritage work and programs to fight radicalization.
- Over the century the site has become both a widely visited Parisian heritage landmark and a unique example of a republic commissioning a major house of worship, a status that shapes its diplomatic, cultural and public‑security functions today.