Schwerinsburg (''Schwerin's castle'') is the biggest of three
castles in
Windhoek
Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...
,
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
. Today it is the private residence of the Italian ambassador in Namibia.
History
![Bundesarchiv Bild 105-DSWA0041, Deutsch-Süd-Westafrika, Windhuk-Sperlingslust](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Bundesarchiv_Bild_105-DSWA0041%2C_Deutsch-S%C3%BCd-Westafrika%2C_Windhuk-Sperlingslust.jpg)
During the time of the construction of
Alte Feste
The Alte Feste (Old Fortress) is a fortress and museum in downtown Windhoek, the capital of Namibia.
The building was designed by captain Curt von François to serve as headquarters of the imperial German ''Schutztruppe'' (colonial military fo ...
in 1890 the tower of Schwerinsburg was built by
Curt von François
Curt Karl Bruno von François (2 October 1852 – 28 December 1931) was a German geographer, cartographer, Schutztruppe officer and commissioner of the imperial colonial army of the German Empire, particularly in German South West Africa (today' ...
, commissioner of
German South-West Africa
German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...
. In 1904
Schutztruppe
(, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned ...
(the German colonial forces) sold it to architect
Wilhelm Sander who converted it into a beer garden and named it ''Sperlingslust'' (lit. "Sparrows' delight").
In 1913
Hans Bogislav Graf von Schwerin, governor of the
Gobabis
, nickname =
, settlement_type = City
, motto = Ex Oriente Lux
, image_skyline = Gobabis Namibia aerial.jpg
, imagesize = 300px
, imag ...
District of German South-West Africa, bought Sperlingslust from Sander and engaged him to convert it into a castle. It was later named ''Schwerinsburg'' after the new owner.
See also
*
Heinitzburg
*
Sanderburg
Sanderburg (''Sander's castle'') is the smallest of three castles in Windhoek, Namibia. It was built between 1917 and 1919 by architect Wilhelm Sander who designed it as his own place of residence. Its architectural style combines several medie ...
References
Buildings and structures in Windhoek
Castles in Namibia
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