CASTLE OF GOOD HOPE
Governor Zacharias Wagenaar laid the four corner stones on January 1666. Timber came from Hout Bay, stones from quarries on Signal Hill and Robben Eiland. Lime came from shells burnt in kilns on the beach. The castle was first occupied in 1674.
The five bastions were named after the Prince of Orange: Buren, Leerdam, Oranje, Nassau and Katzenellenbogen
Carved in stone above the entrance to the Castle are the coat of arms of the cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delft, Hoorn, Middelburg and Enkhuizen, places where various chambers of the Dutch East India Company were established.
The bell in the turret (the oldest in South Africa) was cast in Holland and installed in 1697. It was used to ring the hours of the day and to summon the garrison and citizens to the Castle in times of danger or important announcements. The bell weighs 670lbs and could be heard from 10km away
Part of the world famous William Fehr Collection is housed in the old Granary
Never has a shot been fired from the Castle in anger.
DISTRICT SIX
Once described as 'the soul of Cape Town' District Six was a vibrant community of some 55 000 "coloured" residents. In the mid 1960's the suburb became the focus of international attention when the government declared it a "white" area under the apartheid law. They started moving the people to new areas 30 km away to the desolate Cape Flats
Officialdom argued that the forced removals were part of a genuine upliftment program and that District Six had become untenable in terms of the Public Health Act and the Slums Act.
Indeed the place was overcrowded and unsanitary, the buildings were dilapidated and its streets were crime ridden, but it had colour and soul and above all a powerful community spirit.
Today all that remains of District Six is a wasteland near the heart of Cape Town which serves as a stark reminder of this tragic period in the mother city's history.