the Basilica

One of the first places I visited in Yamoussoukro is the Basilica, or the Basilique de Notre Dame de la Paix de Yamoussoukro. It is HUGE. It's 323,000 sq ft and is 518ft high - that's bigger than the capital building, bigger than the St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Officially, it is the biggest church in the world. It was built in the '80s by Cote d'Ivoire's favorite president (Houphouët-Boigny) for $300 million.

Here's one of the entrances. It can hold somewhere around 16,000 people.

You can take elevators (which are inside some of the huge columns-cool!) to the top. The pews are made of African mahogany which was shipped to Europe to be wood worked.

The marble is all from Italy, the stain glass was all made in France. I did not see it but apparently, the image of Houphouët-Boigny is part of one of the stained glass. He is depicted as one of the three wise men, kneeling as he offers a gift to Jesus (that is nepotism to a new level...).





The Basilica is obviously very beautiful and impressive. Yet, it also typifies the extravagance and financial irresponsibility that is unfortunately too common in African leaders. Moreover, nothing about the Basilica is remotely African.