Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamusukro

🌹 Wonders and anecdotes

• St. John Paul II blessed the first stone on 10 August 1985, placed on 2 February 1986, and five years later, on 10 September 1990, he returned to consecrate the finished basilica; the official opening to veneration came on 1 January 1991.
• Its dimensions exceed: 195 meters long by 150 wide, capacity for 18,000 faithful under roof and 300,000 in the explanade, and a dome of 158 meters that makes it the highest Catholic temple in the world. By their likeness to the Vatican Basilica they call it "the Saint Peter of Africa."
• The architect Pierre Fakhoury projected it in marble and glass windows; despite its greatness, it is not a cathedral: the seat of the Bishop of Yamusukro remains the neighbouring cathedral of Saint Augustine. The Basilica is first and foremost a sanctuary offered to the Mother of God under the title of Peace.
• The Holy See asked that a hospital for the poor and a Catholic university be set up next to the Basilica, a sign that the glory of a temple is also measured in charity. In a country where Catholics are a minority, the basilica remains a stone prayer for peace in Africa.