Digging into history
> A planned metro station in central Algiers, where 2,000 years of Algiers’ history were unearthed, will now incorporate a museum
The tunnel will go as deep as 35m in order to work around the remains.
The Martyrs Square station is set to open in November, part of an extension to the main metro line inaugurated in October 2011.
The museum will open shortly afterwards, covering 1,200sq m and organised chronologically. Some of the remains will be exposed to a depth of over 7m.
“In Rome or Athens, museums present particular periods, whereas here, the visitor can embrace the whole history of Algiers over 2,000 years,” Stiti said. “It’s a source of pride.”
He said the project showed that archaeology is not incompatible with development.
“It gives added value. One accompanies the other without slowing it down,” he said.
“So as not to delay the work, which would add costs to the subway project, archaeologists have worked hard, including on public holidays.”
The National Archaeological Research Centre (CNRA) and France’s National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) have been working on the dig since 2013.
More than 150 people of different nationalities and specialities have taken part, giving young Algerian archaeologists valuable opportunities to work on an important excavation.
Aicha, 70, who lives near the site, said she is looking forward to seeing the museum open.
“There will be no more hassle because of the building work, and I’ll be able to travel by subway and visit the museum with my two granddaughters,” she said.
Said, a 50-year-old high school history teacher, said he hopes there will be guided visits for young people “so they can take ownership of our city’s several millennia of history”. – AFP