Basilique Sainte-Anne-du-Congo, Brazzaville
Roger Erell’s green-tiled basilica of parabolic arches – the architectural masterpiece of Free France’s African capital.
At a glance
- Type
- Basilica
- Period
- 1943-1949
- Style
- Tropical Gothic Modernism
- Location
- Poto-Poto, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo
- Coordinates
- -4.2592, 15.2762
- Architect
- Roger Erell
Overview
The Basilica of Sainte-Anne-du-Congo in the Poto-Poto district of Brazzaville is one of the great church buildings of Africa: a nave of soaring parabolic arches, 22 metres high, roofed in green-glazed tiles that flash like a forest canopy above the city. French architect Roger Erell designed it during the years when Brazzaville served as the capital of Free France, after General de Gaulle’s 1944 conference there set French Africa’s path toward emancipation.
History
Begun in 1943 under the Free French administration and consecrated in 1949, the basilica was conceived as a monument of gratitude and a synthesis of Gothic verticality with equatorial light and materials. The spire was damaged during the civil wars of the 1990s and restored in 2011 to its full 75 metres, again the tallest structure in the city’s skyline of faith.
Architecture and Design
Erell’s parabolic arcades – akin to those of Atlantida and the airship hangars of Freyssinet – rise from slender points, opening lozenge windows to cross-ventilate the nave. Local craftsmen executed the brickwork and the malachite-green tiles; the plan accommodates 4,000 worshippers without aisles or columns interrupting sightlines.
Cultural significance
Sainte-Anne is the emblem of Brazzaville and of the Free France chapter of African history, when the city was, for four years, the capital of fighting France. It anchors Poto-Poto, the artistic quarter whose painting school made Congolese modern art famous, and remains the principal church of the republic.
Visiting today
Open daily and at its most powerful during Sunday Mass, when Congolese choirs fill Erell’s acoustics; visitors are welcome outside services. The Poto-Poto School of Painting is nearby.
Getting there
The basilica stands on the Avenue de la Paix in Poto-Poto, ten minutes by taxi from the city center and the Congo River corniche facing Kinshasa.
Sources and resources
Find it on the map
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