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A Construction Boom In Mozambique Destroys Historical Buildings

A Construction Boom In Mozambique Destroys Historical Buildings

From The Christian Science Monitor

Walter Tembe, a Maputo architect, was leading his weekly building tour this past February when he was startled to find one of the city’s treasures had disappeared.

Other than a curved archway, little remained of what had, just a week before, been a rare example of the Tropical Modern style, a style of architecture similar to Art Deco, that was popular in Maputo in the decade before independence in 1975.

Designed in the 1960s by Pancho Guedes — in his day one the Lusophone world’s most famous architects — the building was razed to make way for one of the luxury condominiums popping up throughout the city. Mr. Tembe, whose been leading architectural tours for five years, sees the destruction of the house as the latest example of misguided real-estate development trampling his city’s history.

“In the past two years Maputo has seen 50 structures of historical significance destroyed or marked for destruction,” says Tembe. “If we preserved our old buildings, especially the Art Deco buildings, we would have a little Miami.”

Though the Portugese started arriving in Mozambique in the 15th century, it was only in the late 19th century that they began to take an interest in Lourenco Marques, now Maputo, following a mining boom in southern Africa. Maputo today is still home to some of the most unique and varied architecture in Africa: from the elegant Hotel Polana Serena to the Casa de Ferro, a steel structure designed by Gustave Eiffel a few years after completion of his famous tower in Paris.

The recently restored Maputo Railway Station, often called one of the most beautiful in the world, was featured in the 2006 Leonardo DiCaprio film “Blood Diamond.”

Read more at The Christian Science Monitor