Yamoussoukro - Highlights

Highlights

Yamoussoukro is also the site of what is claimed to be the largest Christian place of worship on Earth: The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro, consecrated by Pope John Paul II on 10 September 1990.

Also noteworthy are the Kossou Dam, the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Foundation, the PDCI-RDA House, the various schools of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny National Polytechnic Institute, the international airport (with an average of six hundred passengers and 36 flights in 1995, it is one of two airports in Africa (with Gbadolite) that could accommodate the Concorde), the Town Hall, the Protestant Temple, the Mosque, and the Palace of Hosts.

On 6 November 2004, Yamoussoukro Airport was attacked by French infantry after military aircraft from the airport bombed a UN peacekeeper base as well as rebel targets, 9 French peacekeepers and one U.S. civilian were killed. Two Ivorian Sukhoi Su-25 aircraft and several Mil Mi-24 helicopters were destroyed, which was most of the country's air forces. Mobs and rebels tried to attack the French forces after the airport raid.

On 30 March 2011, the city of Yamoussoukro fell to forces led by the democratically elected Alassane Ouattara, who had been recognized internationally as the legitimate president of Côte d'Ivoire.

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