Basílica de Santa Ana del Congo · Brazzaville
In the Poto-Poto district of Brazzaville, at the intersection between the old European district of the Plaine and the African district, the Basilica of Santa Ana del Congo, the most emblematic religious monument in the Congolese capital. Projected by Protestant architect Roger Erell and built between 1943 and 1949, the basilica is both a martyrdom sanctuary of Free France and a symbolic synthesis between Christian spirituality and the African soul. Its roof of 200,000 green tiles in the form of snake scales makes it one of the most original buildings in Central Africa.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The basilica was born from the confluence of three men of different creeds: the Catholic priest Charles Lecomte (1912- 1985), the governor of French Equatorial Africa Félix Eboué (1884- 1944), of a liberating tendency, and the Protestant architect Roger Lelièvre, named Erell (1907- 1986); on 13 March 1943 General De Gaulle put the first peak on the site chosen by Eboué on the border between European and African neighborhoods.
- Roger Erell conceived the building as a synthesis of Christian spirituality and the African soul: the very acute eye arches evoke the lance fers of northern Congo, the 22-meter-high vault is inspired by the mud "obus" cases of southern Chad and Cameroon - whose form suggests two hands united in prayer - and the Congolese artist Benoit Konongo was the first indigenous artist to participate in a great colonial work.
- The ship was inaugurated on 1 November 1949 with the Piroguer Mass, made up expressly for the occasion on the request of Bishop Paul Biéchy; Sultan Mohammmed V of Morocco and the Ethiopian Emperor Haïlé Sélassié I contributed economically to the construction, contributing a character of Pan African solidarity to the project.
- The approximately 200,000 green glazed tiles - in the form of snake scales - cover an 85-meter-long Latin cross floor roof, 45-wide on the cruise and 83-meter-high on the needle; the green color refers to the exuberant equatorial nature, while the scales evoke, as a medieval gargoose, the evil that remains outside the temple.
- The basilica was seriously damaged during the Congolese civil wars of the 1990s; important restoration work - with the participation of the French Embassy and the Archdiocese of Brazzaville - culminated in the inauguration of the tower in January 2011, after works started in July 2010, returning its complete silhouette.
- El nombre de la basílica honra a santa Ana, madre de la Virgen María; la dedicación recuerda el santuario bretón de Sainte-Anne d’Auray, de donde provenía uno de los sacerdotes franceses de Brazzaville; la basílica fue elevada a santuario conmemorativo de la Francia Libre, la única institución eclesiástica de esa condición en África.
Santa Ana, mother of the Virgin Mary
The Basilica of Santa Ana del Congo, in Brazzaville, is the most representative historical monument of the Congolese capital. The work of Protestant architect Roger Erell, inaugurated in 1949, melts Christian architecture with African vernacular forms under a spectacular roof of 200,000 green tiles. It was consecrated as a sanctuary of Free France and restored after the civil wars of the 1990s.
"St. Anne, who you have kept in your bosom the blessed fruit of the Incarnation, intercede for the people of the Congo and for all who seek God in the heart of Africa.
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