The Windhoek Guide - Your Guide to Namibia's Capital

The three Windhoek Castles "Sanderburg", "Schwerinsburg" and "Heinitzburg" are one of the most outstanding colonial heritages in Namibia.

 

Sanderburg was built by Wilhelm Sander as his own home between 1917 and 1919. It is the smallest of the three castles. It was, like the other castles, never used as a military fortress and is still today a private mansion.

 

Heinitzburg is the most well known castle in Windhoek, especially since it is housing a first class hotel (Hotel Heinitzburg). It was also built by Wilhelm Sander for himself (in 1914), however, he sold it already in 1916 to Lord von Schwerin. He named the castle after his wife's family, the Heynitzburg.

 

Schwerinsburg is the largest of the castles and the only one that was built with a military background. In 1890 already, Curt von Francois decided to build a signal tower at that very same hill. It was destroyed in 1894 and the ruins were converted, again by Wilhelm Sander, into a pub / restaurant called Sperlingslust. During the Herero war in 1904/1905 the place was once again a military outpost and was finally taken over in 1913 by Lord von Schwerin. He asked Sander to convert Sperlingslust into a romantic castle. He named it after his family castle in Germany. Today, it is the home of the Italian Ambassador to Namibia.

 

Photo: (c) 2009 Sigismund von Dobschütz (CC Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported)