Walk Towards the Light
by Inge Johnsson
Title
Walk Towards the Light
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 955 Times - Last Visitor from New York, NY on 04/19/2024 at 7:32 PM
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Comments (9)
Tatiana Travelways
Congratulations! Your beautiful artwork has been featured on the homepage of "Travel Art" group at Fine Art America :) Please archive it in the specific travel category under discussions: https://fineartamerica.com/groups/1-travel-art.html?showmessage=true&messageid=3652847 and don't forget to promote it in our Pinterest group board and/or our Facebook group;)
Luther Fine Art
Congratulations on your fabulous artwork being featured in one of FAA's newer Groups - Camera Art! You are invited to archive your work in the Features Archive thread! group or any other thread that it would fit in! LF
Kathy M Krause
Stunning capture Inge! Wow! Unbelievable! Thank you so much for your description and history lesson! L/F
Lyric Lucas
CONGRATULATIONS Inge! I have chosen this excellent unique and creative image to be "SHOWCASED" at the top of the Home Page in the "Out Of The Ordinary 1 A Day" group! L/F/ Pin 1/23/18 - 2/5/18
Mitch Spence
I am absolutely captivated by this image, Inge. It's a pod choice for me today in the Best of Minimalism group.