-Kurt Vonggut-
Today was one of those days where we could take it
easy. It was Sunday; there really isn’t
a hell of a lot to see in Yamoussoukro and the one main attraction that there
is to see, the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, doesn’t open till 2pm. So we had the morning free and were to meet
at 1pm for a drive into ‘town’ and to visit the Basilica. After breakfast the ‘couples’ were going for
a walk into town to look for an ATM and have a bit if a look around. I decided to stay back, in my bat cave and
make use of the internet while I still had it.
At 1pm we were just finishing off a small lunch and then
we piled into Madge for our drive in and around Yamoussoukro. Yamoussoukro is pronounced
"Yam-So-Kro" by Ivorian’s and it's possible to hear
"Ya-Mu-So-Kro"; with the second "U" being silent. The District
of Yamoussoukro is the official political capital and administrative capital city of Côte d'Ivoire,
while the economic capital of the country is Abidjan.
As of 2010, it was estimated to have 242,744 inhabitants. Located 240 kilometers north-west of Abidjan,
the administrative center on the coast, upon rolling hills and plains, the
municipality covers 3,500 square kilometers.
In 1998, the city had about 155,803 inhabitants and is the fourth most
populous city in Côte d'Ivoire, after Abidjan, Bouaké,
and Daloa.
In 1919, the civil station of Yamoussoukro was removed. Félix Houphouët-Boigny became the leader of the village in
1939. A long period passed wherein Yamoussoukro, still a small agricultural
town, remained in the shadows. This continued until after the Second World War,
which saw the creation of the African
Agricultural Trade Union, as well as the first conferences of its
chief. However, it was only with independence that Yamoussoukro finally started
to rise. After 1964, the President Félix Houphouët-Boigny made ambitious plans and started to
build. One day in 1965, later called the Great Lesson of Yamoussoukro, he
visited the plantations with the leaders of the county, inviting them to
transpose to their own villages the efforts and agricultural achievements of
the region. On 21 July 1977, Houphouët offered his plantations to the State. In March 1983, President Félix Houphouët-Boigny made Yamoussoukro the political and
administrative capital of Côte d'Ivoire,
as the city was his birthplace. This marked the fourth movement of the country's
capital city in a century. Côte d'Ivoire's previous capital cities were Grand-Bassam (1893), Bingerville (1900), and Abidjan (1933). The majority of economic
activity still takes place in Abidjan.
The international airport (with an average of six hundred
passengers and 36 flights in 1995, is one of two airports in Africa (along with Gbadolite)
that could accommodate the Concorde. On 6 November
2004, Yamoussoukro Airport was attacked by French infantry after
military aircraft from the airport bombed a UN peacekeeper base as well as rebel targets, 9
French peacekeepers and one U.S. civilian were killed. Two Ivorian Sukhoi Su-25 aircraft and several Mil Mi-24 helicopters were destroyed, which was
most of the country's air forces. Mobs and rebels tried to attack the French
forces after the airport raid. On 30
March 2011, the city of Yamoussoukro fell to forces led by Alassane
Ouattara, who had been recognized internationally as president of
Côte d'Ivoire.
The ‘city’ was quiet and when we arrived yesterday I
thought that we were on the outskirts, just because I couldn’t see any tall
buildings, no traffic and there was nothing ‘city’ like about where we
were. But we were walking distance from
town and it was a little eerie, because it was so quite. There were a few locals about, but I think it
was the 6 lane highway that was void of traffic that was the most disarming,
especially after coming from Abidjan yesterday with its business and a hive of
activity, and this was the capital of the country. We would get a better drive around after our
visit to the Basilica, but this was fast becoming a strange town indeed.
Yamoussoukro is the site of what is claimed to be the
largest Christian place of worship on Earth, The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of
Yamoussoukro, consecrated by Pope John
Paul II on 10
September 1990. This is what we were
going to see and Zoe drove us to the front gates so that we could get a photo
front on before continuing to the carpark and entering the complex from a side
entrance. We were approximately 1km from
the main building, and it looked big as we peered through the front gates, but
not massively, from where we were, but it was the lack of people that
fascinated me, it was devoid of worshippers, on a Sunday, there was no-one in
sight. It was like a ghost town, but
again I would give some credit that the place had just opened, so maybe people
would still be coming. After our photos
we jumped back on the truck and were driven to the entrance where we were top
pay, but were waved through and told to pay at the coffee shop at the next
building before heading to the Basilica.
As non-residents we had to pay 2000CFA (4AUD) as the entrance fee and we
were supposed to pay 500CFA (1AUD) for cameras but we were not charged that and
a French speaking guide was arranged for us (Zoe was to be our translator) and
then we entered the grounds proper.
This is where the magnitude of the building hits
you. It was GIGANTIC. It was so hard to get a perspective in your
photos, as it just looked like a normal building in them, but I did manage to
get the group walking in front of the building and they look like little stick
figures in comparison to the massive building in front of them. There were now a few smaller groups of people
around, but we all looked like ants, it really was an awe inspiring
building. So how did something like this
end up being built here? Well firstly the
structure was criticized due to the comparison between the lavish building and
the impoverished surroundings of the city and people. The Côte d'Ivoire president at the time, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, chose his birthplace of Yamoussoukro
as the new capital of his country in 1983. As part of the plan for the city,
the president wished to memorialize himself with the construction of what would
be the "greatest church in the world." The president commissioned a
stained glass window of his image to be placed beside a gallery of stained
glass of Jesus and the apostles.
The basilica was constructed between 1985 and 1989 at a cost of US$300 million. It was
intentionally modeled after the Basilica of
Saint Peter in Rome,
whose size it intentionally surpassed to become the largest church in the
world. The cornerstone was laid on August 10, 1985, and was consecrated on
September 10, 1990, by Pope John Paul II. Like its model in Rome, Yamoussoukro's
basilica is not a cathedral. The nearby Cathedral of Saint Augustine is the
seat of the bishop of the Diocese of Yamoussoukro and the principal place of
worship for the city. When Félix
Houphouët-Boigny was asked about the cost of the basilica, he said that God
gave him the tools to build the church, and as God doesn’t keep track of money,
neither did he. Quite a good answer when
the basilica has aroused much international controversy,
with the lavish building glittering with Italian marble as it sits in the
middle of an impoverished African city where only a minority of homes have
running water and adequate sanitation AND the cost of the basilica doubled the
national debt of Côte d'Ivoire. Despite this, many of the country's Catholics
are proud of their monument.
The design of the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace is
modeled closely on that of St. Peter's Basilica, but architect Pierre Fakhoury
constructed the dome to be slightly lower and the cross on top to be larger.
The finished height is 158 meters and there is enough space to seat 7,000
people in the nave with standing room for an additional 11,000 people, and if
they open all the massive doors, which open up around the whole church there is
enough room to accommodate another 30,000 people and it looked like it. This building was on epic proportions. Guinness World Records lists it as
the largest church in the world, having surpassed the previous record
holder, St. Peter's Basilica, upon completion. It
has an area of 30,000 sq. meters and is 158m high. However, it also includes a rectory and a
villa (counted in the overall area), which are not strictly part of the church.
It can accommodate 18,000 worshippers, compared to 60,000 for St. Peter's.
After a small brief outside we were taken through one of
the 22 doors on the ground floor, and I think we all couldn’t keep our mouths
shut. We took a few photos before being
told that we couldn’t take them from the ground floor, but would get the
opportunity to take some when we went upstairs.
We were shown some of the 12 columns which are plentiful throughout the
basilica but are not uniform in style; the smaller columns are there for structural
reasons, while the bigger ones are decoration and contain elevators, rainwater
evacuation from the roof and other building mechanical devices. We entered on the of the ‘columns’ which was
an elevator and it whisked us up 38m to the second floor. We then walked up a spiral marble staircase
to come to the balcony that ran around the whole of the basilica. It was breathtaking, as up here were 12
stained glass windows of each apostle and down below we could see the whole
nave and searing, in all its opulence. The
Basilica is constructed with marble imported from Italy and is furnished
with 7,000 square meters of contemporary stained glass
from France. It was from here
we could snap as many photos as we wanted and after a further talk about the
church we were given some free time to walk around, with us all walking the
loop of the balcony back to where our guide was waiting for us. It really was a marvel and the dome was just
spectacular. It was blue and had a
beautiful stained glass pattern at the top.
The dome acts as part of the sound proofing of the building with 29
million perforations, the marble on the walls and the cushions on the 7,000
seats also helps with the sound proofing and the non-echo of the entire
building. Also located on the balcony
are massive spot lights, the size of 3 dinner plates each and there are 436 of
them in total around the balcony that are switched on during special ceremonies
and reflect into the dome to soften the lighting of the basilica. The interesting thing is that each spotlight
gives off 1,000 watts…..imagine the electricity bill.
Some other statistics on this surreal building in Africa:
There were 36 contractors that worked together on the
building.
It was under construction 24 hours a day-seven days a
week.
There were 3 teams of 1500 people working around the
clock.
There are 60 colossal columns that support the building that
we made on site from local materials.
72 hectares was cleared for the building and the grounds
in total equal 130 hectares.
There are 37 hectares of gardens that employs 43
gardeners to keep it all in order.
From the front gate to the main door there is 1km of
marble-only used on special occasions.
7 hectares in total was used for all the marble-that came
directly from Italy.
Apart from the basilica are two identical buildings each
serving as rectory and private papal villa, respectively. The
villa is reserved for papal visits, of which only one has occurred: when the
basilica was consecrated in 1990. We got
a tour of the roof and a smaller room that showed some photos of construction
and a model replica of the basilica. It
was a great view from the roof and looking around there were only a handful of
people on the whole premises. I counted the
whole time that we were there and there were 20 other people the whole 2 hours
that we were there. Incredible. Who pays for the upkeep of this place? Certainly 20 people paying 4 bucks each
wouldn’t even pay the staff for the day-let alone any other costs associated
with a place this big! We were taken
back downstairs and shown the inside of the basilica. We did ask if the basilica has ever been full
and the guide side stepped the question so we rephrased it and asked how many
times a year is it full and we didn’t get a direct response, so we concluded it
has never been full and probably never will be.
A few interesting points about the inside:
There are 7,000 seats and a small air-conditioning unit
between every second seat.
There is an American organ that pumps out 90 decibels of
noise.
The alter is made of solid marble and the cross that
hangs above weighs 50kg.
The alter area had 4 columns that each hold 14 speakers
for the choir singers voices to be heard.
And there is a large stained glass window that has Félix
Houphouët-Boigny next to Jesus, but apparently it was a medieval tradition that
everyone who had a part in the building were depicted in this way and there are
also the architect and other people also in the scene with Jesus.
There is a particular seat where Félix Houphouët-Boigny
sat when in attendance, which now anyone can sit, but it is reserved for
special guests and important people. It
is marked with a small plaque.
There were special air vents created at the 22 doorways
to help keep in the cool air from the air-conditioning when it was on. Imagine that electricity bill. I am sure with the lighting and the air-con
bill’s when there was a special occasion, it would literally probably feed the
whole city and still have change left over.
It’s all quite ridiculous really, and all on the whim of a man who died
4 years after its completion.
The tour concluded and we were given some free time to
walk around outside and I still couldn’t believe that firstly we were in Africa
with such an opulent building in such a poor country, that hardly no-one used
it, there was not a single worshipper in the whole place and that it was as BIG
as it was and certainly in my eyes can see why it has the title of the world’s
largest church and I would think it must come close to the most expensive as
well-surely. After trying to capture the
grandness and epic-ness of the building and trying to get it all in a single
shot we headed back to the truck for a quick spin around town in Madge. I use the word ‘town/city’ loosely,
considering that this is the capital city; it was dead as a door nail. Even if you take into account that it is a
Sunday, after turning off the main drag we were driving down streets that were
6 lanes wide without another stitch of traffic on it. And it wasn’t just one road, ALL of them were
that wide!!! Some were getting in poor
condition, but because the roads were so wide, even in Madge we had no problems
swerving around them, or hitting another thing for that matter, and because we
can we did some ‘swerving’ of our own with a few tunes pumping out for good
measure!!! It really is an unusual
town. We stopped at the moat to the
Presidents Palace to have a look at the crocodiles (real ones) that still live
in there and the whole palace itself is also on a massive scale. Security looked high there and as we were all
getting back into to the truck, 2 guards were walking across the bridge towards
us and we pretended we didn’t see them and just drove off with some hand waves
and stop signals from them. I am sure if
they wanted to find us, we definitely would have been easy enough to find if
they wished.
After cutting a few more laps down the massive streets
that seemed to lead to nowhere, we headed home just after 5pm. There didn’t seem to be many other places to
eat, though we did see a pizza place we could have tried, but it was too early
for dinner and it meant that we would have to get back into Madge again later
tonight, so we all decided to eat back at the restaurant again for dinner. We pre-ordered again what we were going to
have and after a few amendments as they were out of a lot of the food, most of
us got chicken and when we met back again at 7pm, I have to say it was some of
the best chicken I have eaten for a LONG time.
It was SO tasty!!!! So another
day has passed on the trip, making it pretty close to being on the road for 4
weeks and it really doesn’t feel like it has been that long. Time is just flying and as of next week I
will be half way through. Now that just
makes my mind boggle and to think I will be with Shelly and the girls in 7
weeks is actually hard to wrap my brain around and I am looking forward to my
week back in Nairobi to catch up with friends and then to Brisbane to spend my
birthday and Christmas with friends aka my family. I am just an ordinary person living an
extraordinary life.
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