Richmond is a town in the central

Karoo The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe Khoemana (also known as !Orakobab or Korana) word is a semidesert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its extent is ...

region of the

Northern Cape Province The Northern Cape ( ; ; ) is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kga ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is situated on the main N1 route.

Origin, architecture and history

The town was established in 1843 in South Africa's inland plateau. It was founded to meet the religious needs of a growing farming community, but unlike most Karoo towns the church was not built as the physical focal point of the village; rather, the centrepiece is the village square. Unusually for this arid region, it was built astride a river which has been cited as the reason for the irregular street grid.History of Richmond
/ref> The town has a substantial number of well-preserved houses and public buildings of Victorian and

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

Karoo style, with additions of verandahs dating from the 1920s. The

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, , abbreviated NHK ) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the traditional denomination of the Dutch royal famil ...

building, the spiritual if not the physical centre around which the town evolved, dates from 1847, with a tower completed in 1909. It celebrated a centenary in 2009. The naming of the town originated in the desire of the townsfolk to honour the new Governor of the Cape, Sir Peregrine Maitland, who took office in 1844. Maitland declined, however, suggesting instead that it be named after his father-in-law, the

Duke of Richmond Duke of Richmond is a title in the Peerage of England that has been created four times in British history. It has been held by members of the royal Tudor and Stuart families. The current dukedom of Richmond was created in 1675 for Charles ...

. It was officially named Richmond in October 1845. It was a resort town for European aristocratic patients of lung diseases such as whooping cough and tuberculosis in the 1800s due to its clean air and mineral rich waters.

Notable residents

* Richmond was the birthplace of medical pioneer Dr Albert Hoffa, hailed as the founder of modern orthopaedics, author of a famous textbook and some of whose techniques are still in use. Born in Richmond on 31 March 1859, the son of a local doctor, he studied medicine in Germany. In 1886 Hoffa was appointed as lecturer at the

University of Würzburg The Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg (also referred to as the University of Würzburg, in German ''Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg'') is a public research university in Würzburg, Germany. Founded in 1402, it is one of the ol ...

, later becoming Professor and moving to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. He died in 1907. *

Heart transplant A heart transplant, or a cardiac transplant, is a surgical transplant procedure performed on patients with end-stage heart failure when other medical or surgical treatments have failed. , the most common procedure is to take a functioning heart ...

pioneer Professor Chris Barnard would spend time at his Richmond farm, Ratelfontein. * Josephine Dale Lace, flamboyant Johannesburg socialite, mistress of King Edward VII, was born Josephine Cornelia Brink in Richmond.

Book Town

Richmond achieves renown in the first decade of the twenty-first century as a

Book Town A book town is a town or village with many used book or antiquarian bookstores. These stores, as well as literary festivals, attract bibliophile tourists. Some book towns are members of the International Organisation of Book Towns. List of ...

, hosting an annual book festival known a
Bookbedonnerd

Visual Arts

Richmond is also being placed on the visual arts map, by a project called "modern arts projects south- africa".http://www.map-southafrica.org www.map-southafrica.org

References

External links