Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
The megalomaniac Basilique Notre-Dame de la Paix in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, is the largest church in the world. The basilica was built between 1985 and 1989 on the initiative of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the first president of Côte d’Ivoire. He had the church built in his birthplace, Yamoussoukro, which he also declared to be the country’s political capital.
The design is inspired by St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, but the dimensions are slightly larger. The dome is approximately 158 metres high and the building can accommodate around 18,000 visitors, 7,000 of whom have seats. Large quantities of Italian marble and stained glass from France were used in its construction.
In 1990, the basilica was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.
The construction costs are estimated at around 300 million US dollars. This naturally led to much debate, as Côte d’Ivoire was struggling with economic problems at the time.
Côte d’Ivoire ranks in the middle of the global economic spectrum, with a GDP per capita of just over 10,000 dollars.
We visited Ivory Coast on our overland trip by car (a Toyota LandCruiser 4WD campervan) from West-Africa; see our channel youtube.com/user/JanvanBekkum for hundreds of clips. More clips of Ivory Coast can be found here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMYlw_C7EP8KqyTKPnPCZ38MjsZxf_bkB. Enjoy more religious sites and events by playing the clips in this playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMYlw_C7EP8InrVl-4bJbCejM4N0RMDmu.
Music and/or sound effects:
- 'Bombinsound Epic Cinematic Epic 10 seconds' created by BombinSound , distributed by Pixabay (https://pixabay.com);
- 'Es ist das Heil' performed by Ian Dollins, distributed by MusOpen (https://musopen.org);
- 'Symphony of the Streets. Hip-Hop Background Music for video 60 second' created by Maksim Dudchyk and uploaded from Pixbay (pixabay.com/nl/music/orkestraal-symphony-of-the-streets-hip-hop-background-music-for-video-60-second-476679/).;
- 'Calm inspiring technology logo short version' created by Alex Zavesa, distributed by Pixabay (pixabay.com/sound-effects/film-special-effects-calm-inspiring-technology-logo-short-version-518993/).
The megalomaniac Basilique Notre-Dame de la Paix in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, is the largest church in the world. The basilica was built between 1985 and 1989 on the initiative of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the first president of Côte d’Ivoire. He had the church built in his birthplace, Yamoussoukro, which he also declared to be the country’s political capital.
The design is inspired by St Peter’s Basilica in Rome, but the dimensions are slightly larger. The dome is approximately 158 metres high and the building can accommodate around 18,000 visitors, 7,000 of whom have seats. Large quantities of Italian marble and stained glass from France were used in its construction.
In 1990, the basilica was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.
The construction costs are estimated at around 300 million US dollars. This naturally led to much debate, as Côte d’Ivoire was struggling with economic problems at the time.
Côte d’Ivoire ranks in the middle of the global economic spectrum, with a GDP per capita of just over 10,000 dollars.
We visited Ivory Coast on our overland trip by car (a Toyota LandCruiser 4WD campervan) from West-Africa; see our channel youtube.com/user/JanvanBekkum for hundreds of clips. More clips of Ivory Coast can be found here: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMYlw_C7EP8KqyTKPnPCZ38MjsZxf_bkB. Enjoy more religious sites and events by playing the clips in this playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMYlw_C7EP8InrVl-4bJbCejM4N0RMDmu.
Music and/or sound effects:
- 'Bombinsound Epic Cinematic Epic 10 seconds' created by BombinSound , distributed by Pixabay (https://pixabay.com);
- 'Es ist das Heil' performed by Ian Dollins, distributed by MusOpen (https://musopen.org);
- 'Symphony of the Streets. Hip-Hop Background Music for video 60 second' created by Maksim Dudchyk and uploaded from Pixbay (pixabay.com/nl/music/orkestraal-symphony-of-the-streets-hip-hop-background-music-for-video-60-second-476679/).;
- 'Calm inspiring technology logo short version' created by Alex Zavesa, distributed by Pixabay (pixabay.com/sound-effects/film-special-effects-calm-inspiring-technology-logo-short-version-518993/).
