Yamoussoukro

Overview

Introduction

Cote d'Ivoire's administrative and political capital would probably be of no interest to tourists had it not been the birthplace of longtime president Felix Houphouet-Boigny. He had a number of remarkable buildings and attractions built there, among them the now-famous basilica Notre Dame de la Paix (Our Lady of Peace) and the Presidential Palace (next to a sacred crocodile pool and in front of the Houphouet-Boigny family home and gravesite). The basilica is a huge domed structure that has 7,000 individually air-conditioned seats and an abundance of magnificent stained-glass windows. It's one of the world's largest churches: It's claimed to be even larger than St. Peter's in Rome (although the cupola itself is lower, the gold cross atop Yamoussoukro's church makes it taller than Rome's basilica). A nearby mosque, built to nearly equal size, was intended as evidence of Houphouet-Boigny's evenhandedness. Other notable buildings in town include the Hotel President, a mausoleum and those on the town's two college campuses. 165 mi/265 km northwest of Abidjan.

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