Biggest church on Earth built 1985-1990 for Felix Houphouët Boigny, Côte d'Ivoire first president. It copies and exceeds the size of the Pope's Saint Peter's Basilica, but 'only' provides about 18'000 seats compared to the Vatican's original 60'000. Spending hundreds of millions of dollars, and costing millions in maintenance each year, in a country lacking investments in development and basic services was criticized. But it was consecrated on 10 September 1990 by Pope John Paul II, who had just formally accepted the basilica as a gift from Félix Houphouët-Boigny on behalf of the Catholic Church.