Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro
Basilique Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix de Yamoussoukro
Interesting facts
- The dome is a three-dimensional lattice of some 7,000 galvanised steel bars, engineered by the Eiffel company, with no masonry inner shell.
- The stained glass contains more than two million pieces of antique glass, made in about eighteen months near Paris by a team of around seventy.
- In the Entry into Jerusalem window, the names of the people who built the basilica are written into the leaves of the palm branches.
- The dome is slightly lower than St Peter's in Rome, but it is crowned by a larger cross.
- Twelve giant Ionic columns, each about 31 metres tall, support the upper level and stand for the twelve apostles.
- The red iroko seat backs and thousands of small crosses on the walls work together as an acoustic system that tames the echo.
- The building rests on 156 bored piles sunk to an average depth of about 30 metres.
- Some 4,500 workers took part in the construction, which was carried out by two dozen Ivorian and foreign companies.
- One of the two villas beside the basilica keeps a room reserved for papal visits, used only once, when John Paul II came to consecrate it.
- Estimates of its cost vary widely, from about US$175 million to as much as US$600 million, and Houphouët-Boigny said he paid from his personal fortune.
Why it is worth it
The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace rises out of the savannah of central Ivory Coast like an apparition of Rome. Guinness World Records lists it as the largest church in the world, and its 158-metre dome, visible from far across the flat land around Yamoussoukro, earned it the nickname "the basilica in the bush".
It was the personal project of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the country's first president, who made his birthplace Yamoussoukro the capital in 1983 and wanted a monument to go with it. The Lebanese architect Pierre Fakhoury took St Peter's in the Vatican as his model — the dome and the encircled plaza — without copying it outright. Construction ran from 1985 to 1989, and Pope John Paul II consecrated the basilica in September 1990, on condition that a hospital be built nearby.
The scale is best felt inside. The dome is lower than St Peter's but more than twice as wide, about 90 metres across, and it floats over a nave that seats 7,000 and holds 11,000 more standing. The walls are dressed in Italian marble, and the building glows with some 8,400 square metres of stained glass made in France — the largest such order ever placed — assembled in 18,500 panels. In one window the president himself kneels beside Christ entering Jerusalem. The pews are of iroko wood, and many of the giant columns are hollow, hiding lifts and drainage pipes.
The basilica is run by the Polish Pallottine fathers, and it is not the diocesan cathedral, which stands a few kilometres away. Whatever one thinks of its origins, standing in the empty colonnade under the tropical sky is an unforgettable encounter with architecture of improbable ambition.
Getting there
The basilica stands on the edge of Yamoussoukro, about 2.5 km from the city centre. Yamoussoukro International Airport serves the city, but most travellers arrive via Abidjan, about 240 km to the south-east. Bouaké Airport (BYK) lies about 105 km away.
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace is a Catholic minor basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, the administrative capital of Ivory Coast. Guinness World Records lists it as the largest church in the world, having surpassed the previous record holder, Saint Peter's Basilica, upon completion. It has an area of 30,000 square metres (320,000 sq ft) and is 158 metres (518 ft) tall. However, it also includes a rectory and a villa, which are not strictly part of the church. It can accommodate 18,000 worshippers, compared to 60,000 for St. Peter's.
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