Our Lady of the Whole World (Notre Dame de Tout le Monde)

Our Lady of the Whole World is a wooden sculpture of the Virgin Mary that resides in the largest church in the world, The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace (Basilique Notre Dame de la Paix), in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire), West Africa. This Catholic minor basilica was built by the first president of Ivory Coast, Félix Houphouët-Boigny. It was completed in 1989 and consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1990.

During my visit in 2018, our guide told us an inspirational story about the Notre Dame de Tout le Monde. This sculpture was the brainchild of an incarcerated Muslim criminal in a Yamoussoukro prison. Apparently, this individual had a dream in which he had a conversation with the Virgin Mary. He reasoned that if the Virgin Mary could appear to him, a Muslim, she obviously belonged to the whole world and not to Christians alone.

As a result, the prisoner sculpted a statue of the Virgin Mary, and named it: Notre Dame de Tout le Monde (Our Lady of the Whole World). At close range when you approach the sculpture, you see an expression of anguish. However, as you walk away from Her, the anguish turns into a smile! Perhaps this smile is telling us that all will be well. Either way, it is a rather remarkable appearance to behold. I had to obtain permission from the Rector of the Basilica to photograph Our Lady of the Whole World.

Figure 1: Our Lady of the Whole World, up close with an anguished countenance.		Figure 2: Our Lady of the Whole World smiled as I walked away.
Figure 3: Aerial view of the Basilica nave as seen from the observation deck.
Figure 4: The front facade of the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast, West Africa.