Algerian Radio
The latest issue of the Official Gazette (Issue No. 49) includes a presidential decree setting the conditions and procedures for creating and maintaining artworks in public spaces.
Decree No. 26-247, dated June 29, 2026, defines commemorative artworks as any statue, monument, or mural of an architectural or aesthetic nature dedicated to immortalizing one or more persons or events, or intended for urban decoration.
The decree also specifies that murals—whether permanent or temporary writings, drawings, or sculptures on walls or fixed/movable supports using paint, lime, cement, ceramics, or other materials—must possess artistic and aesthetic qualities and serve to commemorate individuals, events, or decorate the environment.
These works are categorized as:
- Artworks with a National Dimension: Those immortalizing figures, symbols, historical feats, and revolutionary or artistic events represented across the entire national territory.
- Artworks with a Regional Dimension: Those immortalizing figures or events whose symbolism transcends a single wilaya and extends to neighboring wilayas.
- Artworks of a Special Character: Those immortalizing specific figures or historical events established to implement decisions issued by the highest state authorities.
- Public Spaces: Any road, square, or building intended for public use or open to the general public.
Under the decree, the creation and display of artworks in public spaces require—following the opinion of the relevant committee—a license issued by the Minister of Interior, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, or the territorially competent Wali, depending on the nature of the work and its location.
The decree stipulates that license applications must obtain prior approval from the Minister of Mujahideen (or the Wilaya Director of Mujahideen) for works of a historical nature related to the Popular Resistance, the National Movement, or the Liberation Revolution. For cultural works related to historical figures, artistic events, or material and immaterial cultural heritage, approval must be sought from the Minister of Culture and Arts (or the Wilaya Director of Culture).
The creation of these artworks must strictly adhere to the nation’s constants, historical symbols, values, and national memory. They must also comply with public order, public decency, and the general interests of the nation, as well as technical, artistic, and aesthetic specifications. The decree establishes two committees—one national and one at the wilaya level—to study applications and provide recommendations within specified deadlines.
Application files must include documents proving the applicant’s identity, approvals from relevant authorities, and technical documents including a model or scale model of the work, a historical brief on the person or event to be commemorated, and the project’s funding source.
Regarding maintenance, the responsibility lies with the license holder: the Municipality for works on public property within its territory; the Ministry of Culture and Arts for works related to protected cultural real estate; and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for works on state property abroad.
Owners of artworks completed prior to the publication of this decree must regularize their status in accordance with its provisions within one year from the date of its publication in the Official Gazette.
