eBusiness Weekly
Tawanda Musarurwa
Huge granite bricks pile one upon another without mortar, yet in such perfect order; so perfect they have and will continue to stand the test of time, while propelling the wisdom of the architect to generations yonder.
These mind-boggling structures defy tourism magazine diction. Many can only call them “ruins”. Oh, but they often are described as such.
But, that’s simply because no human being still lives there, only lizards darting and disappearing into the crevices, birds and monkeys, now live in the ambience of the structure.
Great Zimbabwe is the name given to an ancient city in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe in the town of Masvingo.
Its complex of massive stone walls spreads across almost 1 800 acres.
Historians contend that construction of the monuments began in the eleventh century A.D. by Bantu-speaking ancestors of the Shona and were worked on for more than 300 years. 300 years? Yes.
That probably explains the massive scale of its structure, and what sets it apart from some 300 similar complexes dotted on the Zimbabwean plateau (think of Khami, Ziwa and Nalatale ruins as cases in point).
At first sight, the imposing structures are simply attractive and impressive as they are coated with grey lichen. My suggestion is: get a guide. You definitely need a guide.
The guide will help bring the monuments to life, with narratives and enlightenments of how things happened.
There are so many stories surrounding these ancient monuments; some very much in contradiction with what we have come to expect as normal. If you are lucky (or not) you may come across farcical stories of how the Great Zimbabwe National Monuments were built by aliens.
Aliens, really?
Well, the “ruins” are that impressive, so I will take it as a compliment for our ancestors, if they used aliens as labourers.
And the alien story is probably the least of it. It is also said early European travellers from Germany, Portugal and Britain were astonished to learn of this powerful African civilisation in the interior of Southern Africa and (as you would expect) refused to give our ancestors their due credit.
Renowned African historian Professor Manu Ampim says the first European to visit Great Zimbabwe was a German geologist, Carl Mauch, in 1871.
Mauch refused to believe that indigenous Africans could have built such an extensive network of monuments made of granite stone.
He therefore assumed that the Great Zimbabwe National Monuments were created by biblical characters from the north.
“I do not think that I am far wrong if I suppose that the ruin on the hill is a copy of Solomon’s Temple on Mount Moriah and the building in the plain a copy of the palace where the Queen of Sheba lived during her visit to Solomon,” Mauch is quoted to have said.
Other narratives are that later Europeans also speculated that the monuments were built by Portuguese travellers, Arabs, Chinese, or Persians.
My take is that it’s all a testament to greatness.
But the fact remains that Great Zimbabwe is the skilled stone masonry of local indigenous Africans of the Bantu tribe.
Great Zimbabwe’s most outstanding edifice — the appropriately named “Great Enclosure” — has walls as high as 36 feet extending approximately 820 feet.
Like granite itself, the “ruins” are enduring!
