Basilique Notre-Dame de la Paix, Yamoussoukro
Completed in 1989 and consecrated by Pope John Paul II the following year. Modeled on St. Peter's Basilica, its dome rises 158 m, and the interior is said to hold about 18,000 people (7,000 seated), with room for 300,000 in the square in front; Guinness World Records lists it as the largest church in the world. It was built by Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Côte d'Ivoire's first president, in his hometown of Yamoussoukro. At ordinary Masses most of the vast interior sits empty, and light from the stained glass drifts across the unoccupied pews.
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