The Windhoek Guide - Your Guide to Namibia's Capital

Throughout Windhoek you can find some monuments of political, colonial and traditional history.

 

The Kudu Monument is a statue of a Kudu (antelope) built in 1960. The bronze statue is in real size and should symbolize the beauty of the Namibian nature.

The Curt von Francois Monument is a statue located in the small park outside the Windhoek City Hall. It was set up in 1965 in remembrance of the "Founding Father of Windhoek". The statue is 5 meters high and made out of bronze.

The Marble Obelisk outside the Windhoek City Hall is set up at that position which was used by Curt von Francois for his first land surveying. It was built in 1990, one hundred years after Francois measured the first route from Walvis Bay to Windhoek.

The Ovambo Memorial was built in 1917 as a remembrance to the fallen soldiers of the South African army during the "Mandume Uprising". The monument can be found just outside the Windhoek Station.

In 1897 the War Memorial was inaugurated. It is functioning as a remembrance monument for the fallen German soldiers that died during the Herero and Nama wars. This small iron monument is about two meters high and on the top sits a huge imperial eagle. The monument is located in the Zoo Park.

Outside of the Tintenpalast the three Parliament Statues can be found. These are showing three of the heroes of the history of Namibia, namely Hendrik Samuel Witbooi (standing with a tie and a walking stick), Theophelus Hamutumbangela (a priest with a bible) and Hosea Kutako (sitting position).  The statues were built by Hercules Viljoen and inaugurated in 2001.

Oudstryder is a modern Afrikaans memorial at Bismarck St. It was built in 1951 for those Oudstryders that relocated to Namibia from South Africa, as they were not accepting the British administration in South Africa.

 

Other monuments are:

• Heroe's Acre
• Reiterdenkmal

 

Photo: public domain 2009 Wiebke Schmid