Yamoussoukro
The new administrative and political capital is Yamoussoukro, about 230km (143 miles) north of Abidjan. The town has a lively market, an international-standard golf course and several buildings of architectural interest, including the Palace and Plantations of the President and the Mosque. Also of architectural interest but, above all, of statistical interest, is the Cathdrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix. Fractionally smaller than St Peter’s in Rome, it incorporates a greater area of stained glass than the total area of stained glass in France. Roman Catholicism is a minority religion in Cte d’Ivoire (some say that the Cathedral could accommodate every Roman Catholic in the country several times over). Yamoussoukro was the birthplace of Flix Houphout-Boigny, who was Cte d’Ivoire’s President for 33 years. The cathedral was paid for almost entirely out of his own pocket.
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