Basilica of Yamoussoukro, collectively Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, a Roman Catholic basilica in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast which is the largest Christian church in the world. The basilica's rapid construction in 1986-1989 was apparently paid for by the President of Côte d'Ivoire, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, and the building is located in his birthplace, the town of Yamoussoukro. The shape of the basilica roughly resembles that of St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, with a dome surmounting a
colonnade shaped like a Latin cross.In front of the basilica is a large square surrounded by two more colonnades. The 272 Doric columns that support the colonnades are made of cement and reach a height of 31 meters (101 feet). The gigantic dome of the basilica dwarfs St. Peter's Basilica and reaches a height of 149 meters. The basilica has a capacity of 18,000 worshipers, while the esplanade can accommodate 300,000 people.The earliest churches were based on the pagan Roman basilica (see this term) or courtroom plan. The plan generally included a nave (see also) or hall with a flat wooden roof, where the crowd gathered; one or two aisles flanking the nave and separated from it by a series of regularly spaced columns; a narthex (qv) or entrance hall at the west end reserved for penitents and unbaptized believers; and a semicircular or rectangular apse (see there), located at the east end of
, reserved for the clergy.In later times a transept (see there) was added to the plan of the basilica in the form of a wing oriented perpendicular to the nave on a north-south axis and projecting from the limits of the nave to form the cruciform or Latin cross plan ( for example Durham or Peterborough Cathedrals).Side altars dedicated to specific saints were often erected at each end of the transept. (See illustration). Some medieval English cathedrals (e.g. Canterbury, Lincoln and Salisbury) have a smaller second transept
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