The capital of the Republic of Senegal in West Africa, Dakar, is located on the very shores of the Atlantic Ocean. The port city was founded by the French in 1857. In 1936, with the help of French experts and donations from the French, the first Catholic church was built in Senegal, accommodating several hundred believers.
The history of the construction of the cathedral is closely connected with the name of the young French missionary Daniel Brotier, who, having arrived in Senegal in 1903, intended to convert the population to the Catholic faith. Daniel wanted to instill in black people the moral and spiritual values of Christian civilization. He was a real ascetic. Despite poor health, the missionary traveled to different places in Senegal, got acquainted with the life of ordinary people. With his help, single children of Senegalese were identified in shelters, given places in hospitals.
Brotier's father returned to France in 1907, participated in the First World War, but did not forget about Senegal. After the end of hostilities, he began to collect donations for the construction of the Catholic Cathedral in Dakar. A few years later, the funds were donated to the Dakars. The construction of the temple began in the 1920s, and ended in 1936, the year of the death of Father Brotje.
The main architect of the cathedral was the Frenchman Charles Albert Wulflef, who had considerable experience in the construction of churches. He took the Greek cross as a basis, but he designed the building by combining Byzantine and Muslim architectural styles. He turned out to have a temple with a Christian dome with a cross, and on the sides of the main entrance two bell towers resembling minarets rose.
Marble from Tunisia, pink sandstone from Sudan, hard varieties of red wood were used to clad the temple and its interior. The lighting for the prayer room is 20 windows in a round dome. All Catholics and Muslims are allowed to enter the cathedral.
The cathedral was consecrated in honor of the Virgin Mary. That is why it is called Notre Dame in French. The temple in 2007 underwent restoration. It was installed in the old French cemetery, where the French Catholics were buried.
