Blue Room
by Inge Johnsson
Title
Blue Room
Artist
Inge Johnsson
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture, Watermark Not On Actual Print
Description
Kolmanskop (Afrikaans for Coleman's hill, German: Kolmannskuppe) is a ghost town in the Namib desert in southern Namibia, 10 kilometres inland from the port town of Luderitz. It was named after a transport driver named Johnny Coleman who, during a sand storm, abandoned his ox wagon on a small incline opposite the settlement. Once a small but very rich mining village, it is now a popular tourist destination run by the joint firm NamDeb (Namibia-De Beers).
In 1908 the worker Zacharias Lewala found a diamond while working in this area and showed it to his supervisor, the German railway inspector August Stauch. Realizing the area was rich in diamonds, German miners began settlement, and soon after the German government declared a large area as a "Sperrgebiet", starting to exploit the diamond field. Driven by the enormous wealth of the first diamond miners, the residents built the village in the architectural style of a German town, with amenities and institutions including a hospital, ballroom, power station, school, skittle-alley, theatre and sport-hall, casino, ice factory and the first x-ray-station in the southern hemisphere, as well as the first tram in Africa. It had a railway link to L�deritz.
The town declined after World War I when the diamond-field slowly exhausted and was ultimately abandoned in 1954. The geological forces of the desert mean that tourists now walk through houses knee-deep in sand.
Uploaded
June 5th, 2016
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Viewed 4,257 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/19/2024 at 4:14 PM
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Comments (16)
Carol Lowbeer
Congratulations on your win in the ABANDONED PLACES contest! Wonderful inventive image!
Bob Lentz
Congratulations! This simple and essential image is a Featured Image in the “Best of Minimalism” group on FAA based on votes by group members. The artist is invited to add the image to the group’s current “2022/23 Feature Archive” Discussion topic.
Lyric Lucas
Congratulations, your beautiful artistic work is Featured on the home page of the "Bedroom Art Gallery" group. 5/7/22 l/f
Jeff Burgess
Thank you for your wonderful submission to the Pacific Northwest Artists (PNA) group. Your artistic creation has been featured on the home page. This art represents the best of us so a well-deserved “congratulations”. For permanence and additional exposure, please place your art piece in the “Discussion” section titled: featured in 2022.
Gary F Richards
Outstanding composition, lighting, shading, color and artwork! F/L …voted for this piece in the contest ABANDONMENT AND DECAY
Brian Wallace
I've seen something like this covered on TV once. Very unique, odd, and strange yet, provides a golden opportunity for photos. This one has a very surreal and semi-abstract feel to it. (L)
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