Thursday 14 March 2013

Basilique de Notre Dame de la Paix



Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast

Former President Felix Houphouët-Boigny moved the country's capital from Abidjan to his hometown of Yamoussoukro and built the world's largest church there (as well as a presidential palace at a similarly great cost), doubling the national debt of the country.
The basilique was constructed between 1985 and 1989 by lebanese architect Pierre Fakhoury with marble imported from Italy and it is furnished with 7.000 square meters of stained glass from France. It is 158m (518 ft) high and, with an area of 30.000 m2 (322,917 sq ft), it can accomodate 18.000 worshippers.
This lavishly built basilica sits in the middle of the african bush in an impoverished city where only a minority of homes have running water and adequate sanitation! It was consecrated in 1990 by Pope John Paul II.

17 comments:

Joop Zand said...

Excellent shots JM.....i like this.

Greetings, Joop

Teamgsquare said...

Lovely shot , nice to know about this basilica .

Ramakrishnan said...

Immense monument with tall giant pillars & magnificent dome !

Sylvia K said...

Terrific captures, but have to admit I do question the amount of money spent!! With so many incredible cathedrals with amazing history -- why one more new one??? Great post as always, JM!! Have a great weekend!

Diane said...

It never ceases to amaze me how poor countries can spend millions on buildings while the country is starving!! Never the less beautiful photos. Diane

beatrice De said...

La honte à ce mégalo.
Votre photo est très intéressante. L'un n'empêche pas l'autre.

Lowell said...

It's impressive in terms of size and I appreciate the person in the 2nd shot as it gives a sense of scale. But for someone to think that a god would prefer this than feeding and caring for a nation's people...ah, it's just plain nuts!

Rajesh said...

Great shots of the place. It is huge.

Leslie D. said...

Yes really magnificent, awe inspiring construction. Wow

tapirgal said...

What an amazing story. It left me speechless. I've never heard of this place. Beautiful photos, insane project!

Anonymous said...

Amazing! I guess he didn't want to commute to work ;-) Thanks for sharing the story ... the contrast between its location and its grandeur is so stark as to be appalling.

Cobalt Violet said...

Great shots. Unfortunately, I am not surprised by the story. I wonder what the average resident thinks about it.

Anonymous said...

like your points of view, not the usual ones! great shots!!!
Greetings, Hilde

Stickup Artist said...

My Mom was telling me about a documentary she recently watched about the Sudan. Another lavishly wealthy leader with a similarly impoverished population. I'm beginning to think that all leaders are inherently flawed.

Cezar and Léia said...

Huge structure and these pictures are perfect, wonderful images!
Léia

Pat Tillett said...

Hi there! Tapirgal gave me your link.
I'm happy that she did! It only took a glance at a couple of your posts and I knew I was going to follow you. This was a great post for me to start with. Fantastic photos of an amazing place!

beatrice De said...

La honte.
Encore plus qu'un pape se déplace !