Located inland a 2½-hour drive north of Abidjan, Yamassoukrou, the country's political capital since 1983 (pop. 422,000) was a village of just 500 up till the 1950s and was afterward developed and elevated to capital status by Ivory Coast´s first and longest serving president, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, a native son. He was also responsible for the construction here of the Roman Catholic minor basilica Notre-Dame de la Paix (Our Lady of Peace, shown here), the world's largest church (with space for up to 18,000 worshippers), with architecture inspired by Saint Peter's Basilica in Vatican City. There's also a white Grand Mosque (Muslims make up around 39 percent of the population, as against 33 percent Christians). The rest of the city's architecture has been described as a dilapidated “time capsule of the 1970s,” with landmarks such as the Presidential Palace (known mostly for its three lakes stocked with big – and reportedly several man-eating – Nile crocodiles) and the Boigny Felix Houphouet Foundation for Peace Research.
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