Recent Stories
Akhosu Behanzin: North Korean Style
Near Abomey’s city center is Place Goho, a small park where a statue of Akhosu (King) Behanzin (r. 1889–1894) stands behind a fountain and rectangular pool. This massive monument depicts a muscular figure, his hand outstretched as if to indicate…
Maboneng Precinct
Maboneng, its name a Sotho word meaning “place of light,” has been rapidly growing at about 3 times the rate of South Africa's standard of about +6% annually. Located in the Central Business District (CBD), the district was cut from a section…
Cine Atlântico
The Cine Atlântico was the vision of Portuguese architects operating in the late colonial period. Uncertain of Angola's future as a result of independence movements that began to grow in the 1950s, the leadership of Portugal decided to attempt to…
The Agostinho Neto Mausoleum
The Agostinho Neto Mausoleum is an obelisk-like concrete structure towering above the city of Luanda. It occupies the center of the Agostinho Neto Cultural Center, which takes up 4,633 square miles of Luanda, and serves as Neto's final resting…
Old Fourah Bay College Building
A run-down structure standing on Ross Road once served as an important institution in Freetown’s history. Fourah Bay College’s original building, now a national monument, has evolved several times since its creation in 1845. The evolution of this…
The Groote Schuur
The regal estate that fronts Devil’s Peak next to Table Mountain was home to British colonialist, politician and imperialist Cecil John Rhodes (1853-1902), whose belief in Anglo-Saxon supremacy led him to enact voting and property laws that helped…
Featured Stories
Oba's Palace, Benin City, Nigeria
The Benin palace (eguae) shares many contemporary elements with royal accommodations worldwide: air conditioning, electricity, electronics, and a glamorous new facade–an innovation of the current monarch, Oba Ewuare II. Altars to the monarchs of the…
Manhyia Royal Palace
When the British allowed Asantehene Prempeh I to return from exile in the Seychelles Islands and resume his position as "Kumasihene" (a term that attempted to limit his sovereignty to Kumase), their former actions left him no palace to return to.…
Maboneng Precinct
Maboneng, its name a Sotho word meaning “place of light,” has been rapidly growing at about 3 times the rate of South Africa's standard of about +6% annually. Located in the Central Business District (CBD), the district was cut from a section…
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