Castle Of Good Hope is an often neglected spot by many tourists. Hence, I was only able to visit this place after 15 months of living in South Africa and that was because our previous plans to go somewhere else got cancelled.
Castle Of Good Hope has actually a significant place in the history of the first European settlers and is the oldest existing colonial building in South Africa. When it was first built by the trading organization of Dutch East India Company, it was actually located on the coastline. Now, it's located inland after the land reclamation.
This was a time period that tension between Netherlands and Britain was continuously rising. That's why a pentagonal fortress was built between 1666 and 1679 to serve as a messenger for approaching threats. The canon balls fired on top the fortress would alert and notify the canons on the surrounding hills sequentially like a domino effect.
Besides defense purposes, the fortress started to be used as a residential area that included a church, bakery, workshops, living quarters and many more. During the Second Boer War between British and Dutch forces, the fortress was used as a prison after British occupation. Source
One section of the fortress was allocated for an exhibition by William Fehr who was a businessman making a collection of paintings in the early 20th century. The paintings mostly depicted the settling of Dutch and British colonists. Something interesting I realized about the paintings was the exaggerated illustration of Table Mountain but I didn't really understand the reasoning behind it.
Another exhibition in the fortress was about the international relationship between Australia and South Africa, mainly the boycott policy of Australia towards South Africa during the Apartheid years. It seemed that many Austrailian sportsmen refused to get involved in any sports games with South Africa, which attracted mixed reactions from authorities.
There was also a Military Museum which was very explanatory about the military tactics of Dutch East India Company and the wars occuring with the arrival of British forces.
This was an exhibition about the ceramics, but I was already fed up with history information to be honest, so I didn't look at it in much detail. The art work here was extraordinary, though.
The views on top of the fortress walls were stunning.
Have you been to this castle before? Drop me a comment below.
Cheers;
Haritakurdu