Current Time in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast

Yamoussoukro is the political capital of Ivory Coast, standing in the centre of the country about two hundred and forty kilometres north-west of the economic capital, Abidjan. It lies in a zone of wooded savanna and forest patches, on gently rolling land dotted with lakes and cocoa and coffee plantations. The town is laid out on an extraordinarily generous scale, with avenues eight lanes wide, ceremonial boulevards and enormous public buildings set among open spaces, a plan far larger than its present population requires.

Around two hundred and fifty thousand people live in the city and its district. Government administration, education, services and agriculture form the basis of the economy, with cocoa, coffee, yam, cassava, maize and rice grown in the surrounding countryside, along with fishing in the nearby Kossou reservoir. Conference tourism, religious pilgrimage and a growing student population also contribute.

Yamoussoukro was a small Baoulé village until the twentieth century. Its transformation was the work of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who was born here in 1905, became the first president of independent Ivory Coast in 1960 and governed for more than three decades. Determined to develop his birthplace, he built roads, schools, a great presidential palace and an international airport, and in 1983 the National Assembly declared Yamoussoukro the official capital of the country. Most embassies and much of the administration nevertheless remained in Abidjan, and the transfer of functions has proceeded only slowly, though several ministries and institutions have moved in recent years.

The city is dominated by the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, one of the most astonishing buildings in Africa. Consecrated in 1990 and modelled on Saint Peter's in Rome, it is the largest church in the world by area, with a soaring dome, marble floors, Italian stained glass covering thousands of square metres and a colonnaded plaza able to hold hundreds of thousands of people. Nearby stand the presidential palace, whose ornamental lake is famously home to a colony of crocodiles, the Houphouët-Boigny Foundation for Peace with its conference halls and library, the Saint Augustine seminary and the grand mosque. The Kossou lake, created by a dam on the Bandama River, offers boating and fishing, and villages in the surrounding region welcome visitors to see Baoulé weaving, mask carving and goldwork.

Baoulé culture is strong here, with drumming, dance and elaborate funeral and enthronement ceremonies, and the city hosts national celebrations and religious gatherings. Local food includes foutou with palm nut or groundnut sauce, attiéké, grilled chicken and fish from the lake.

A good highway connects Yamoussoukro with Abidjan and Bouaké, buses and shared taxis run frequently, and the airport handles occasional flights. The city is a major educational centre, home to the national polytechnic institute named after Houphouët-Boigny, one of the most respected engineering and agronomy schools in West Africa, along with several other colleges.

Yamoussoukro is remarkable as a purpose-built capital and as the site of one of the largest religious monuments on earth.