The art of Algeria and Libya

Algeria and Libya are home to some of the world's most significant ancient rock art.

12,000–2,000 B.C.E.

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Amazigh Kabyle brooches (fibulae)
Amazigh Kabyle brooches (fibulae)

Traditionally worn as everyday jewelry, fibulae have become a symbol of Amazigh pride.

Ancient Sabratha
Ancient Sabratha

A Phoenician trading-post that served as an outlet for the products of the African hinterland, and which was Romanized in the 2nd and 3rd centuries.

Al Qal’a of Beni Hammad (mosque)(UNESCO/NHK)
Al Qal’a of Beni Hammad (mosque)(UNESCO/NHK)

The mosque, whose prayer room has 13 aisles with eight bays, is one of the largest in Algeria.

Rock Art in the Green Sahara (Africa)
Rock Art in the Green Sahara (Africa)

Rock art is one of the best records of the life of past peoples who lived across the Sahara.

Rock-Art Sites of Tadrart Acacus
Rock-Art Sites of Tadrart Acacus

These images reveal how the Sahara changed from rich grassland to inhospitable desert over thousands of years.

Running Horned Woman, Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria
Running Horned Woman, Tassili n’Ajjer, Algeria

Who is this mysterious running horned woman, painted in a secluded, difficult to access part of Tassili?

Rock Art in North Africa
Rock Art in North Africa

Tassili n’Ajjer’s “forests of stone” are the site of painted and engraved images, some up to 12,000 years old.

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