Basilica of Our Lady of Peace

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Out of the green savanna of Ivory Coast rises the largest church in the world. President Félix Houphouët-Boigny raised it in his birthplace of Yamoussoukro between 1985 and 1990, and architect Pierre Fakhoury shaped it in the image of Saint Peter's in Rome, lowering the dome slightly out of deference while letting the golden cross above it reach 158 meters into the African sky. Its columned dome floats over 7,000 square meters of French stained glass that bathes the marble interior in blue and gold light; among the windows, the old president himself kneels as one more pilgrim bringing his gift. There are seats for 7,000 beneath the dome, room for 18,000 in all, and an esplanade that can hold hundreds of thousands. When Houphouët-Boigny offered the basilica to the Church, John Paul II agreed to consecrate it, on September 10, 1990, on one condition: that a hospital for the poor be built beside it, a promise finally fulfilled years later. The pope prayed that Our Lady of Peace would make this place a wellspring of reconciliation for the whole continent, and pilgrims from across West Africa keep coming to hold him to it.