# The Biggest Church in the World? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 10, 2000, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-church-in-the-world/8392 "2000-03-10T00:58:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2000, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-church-in-the-world/8392/1 "2000-03-10T00:58:00Z")
I understand that St. Peter’s Basillica, which used to be the largest (in terms of physical size) church in the world, hasn’t been for about ten years, having been replaced by a church in Africa. What is the name of said church? Where is it? And, more importantly, does it have a web site? ---
**Author:** ![curious\_george](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b487fb/32.png) [@curious\_george](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curious_george)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2000, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-church-in-the-world/8392/2 "2000-03-10T15:27:00Z")
Never heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![egkelly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/db5fbb/32.png) [@egkelly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/egkelly)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2000, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-church-in-the-world/8392/3 "2000-03-10T15:40:00Z")
Indeed you are right. The largest church in the world is in the Ivory Coast (W Africa). It was begun more than 20 years ago, and is something like 3 times the size of St. Peters in Rome. I guess it effecyively bakrupted the national treasury of that nation. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2000, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-biggest-church-in-the-world/8392/4 "2000-03-11T06:39:00Z")
The cathedral is called Our Lady of Peace and it is in Yamoussourko. It was dedicated in 1990. The official name is Basilique de Notre Dame de la Paix. Other factoids about it: Estimated construction cost: $150 million 7000 individually air-conditioned seats Room for 12000 additional standees Plaza can hold approximately 300,000 which is supposedly more than the entire Catholic population of the country. It contains 36 different stained glass windows, each 30 m high and contains more stained glass than Chartres. Admission is free!