The
Grande Hotel of Beira, Mozambique
The Grande Hotel Of Beira in
Mozambique was constructed in 1955 from the ruling Portuguese Estado Nuovo
regime, as a need for the Portuguese VIP that wanted to visit Beira, this
African Costal Port. It had 130 rooms, an Olympic swimming pool, restaurants
and dance halls in an area of 21 000 square meters, making this the biggest
hotel in Southern Africa at that time. The design used was the Art Deco which
reminded guests the Portuguese 30’-40’s building style. However, the Hotel
didn’t profit anything in eight years of operation, because locals could not
afford to go there and the VIP of Portugal were guest of the state and were not
charged for their accommodation in the Grande Hotel of Beira. As we mentioned
above, this hotel closed its doors in 1963 but only some parts were still
running, like the Olympic Pool where the Mozambican Swimming team was trained or
for organizing official state weddings. Finally, in 1975 Mozambique won its
independence from Portugal, and the Grande hotel purpose changed drastically
where the Frelimo Government used the basement as a prison for the enemies of
the state. After 2 years the civil war created a lot of chaos and in 1981 Beira
was declared a neutral zone, so the outcome was a flux of refugees to the
Grande Hotel of Beira. Even though the civil war ended in 1992, the population
at the hotel continues to grow. So far, no one seems to be responsible for that
building which is left to the hands of refugees and in the hands of homeless
people. Their financial and social status doesn’t allow us to take care of the
building, which in this case is getting worse day by day. Its rooms do not have
windows or doors, iron and other valuable materials were robbed in order to
profit some money out of them. The water of the swimming pool is used to wash
clothes and for bathing, which creates high level of water pollution. Today the
building is in danger of destruction, which might cause the death of children
living there or the spread of any infectious disease, due to the lack of
hygiene and proper living conditions. The future is still too vague, because
many questions cannot get answers. Which country should take care of this
building if the land is Portuguese? Where are the habitants of Grande hotel
going to live if the building will be reconstructed or taken by the state?
Most of the information was found in “The
Grande Hotel of Beira, Mozambique”, May 21st, 2013. Found in http://sometimes-interesting.com/2013/05/21/the-grande-hotel-of-beira-mozambique/
Appropriation of the room
As we mention previously, people
invading the Hotel made use of the hotel space as they wanted to. As such we
can observe people living in the primitive living conditions in what was before
the most luxury hotels in the state. From what we saw in the documentary people
were living in the worst condition where there were lacking electricity,
running water, doors and windows. As quoted from the article in CNN written by
Amy Fallon and Mark Tutton: “the telephone booths have been cut off and made
into a room, the corridor is the room”. (Fallon, A. and Tutton, M. 2011)
Despite their difficult living conditions, habitants of the Hotel seemed quite
happy living there, not only because of a shelter but as well as they developed
a community, where social interactions and collaborations were not missing. As
was said by a tourist in the article mentioned above, “It was like a village
within a village. It looked like the perfect social housing project”. Even
though, the relationships do not miss in this social community, there are still
parts that show the disrespect of the law. If we trace the history of how this
people invaded the hotel by not respecting law, explains why now the habitants
created and obeyed to their own ‘laws’ and rules. Due to this behavior many
risky situation might happen, like robbing, prostitution, drug dealing and
unfortunately even killing. As we saw the testimony of a habitant of the Grande
Hotel, she experienced the death of her father due to a fight between him and
another habitant. The reason was money debts.
Another aspect that we want to
touch is the lack of windows and doors in the rooms. If we see the building,
the lack of doors and windows reflects a safe state where everything is known
to anybody, creating in this way a safe psychological state for the community,
resembling to a tribe.
It is hard to imagine life in
this hotel today, because building is unsafe and an eyesore. It will be better
if this building will be demolished, but there a re several reasons why it
can’t be done anytime soon. First, is the city of Beira does not own the land
and cannot force the action. Second, the cost to raze the property is beyond
anyone’s budget. Demolition of the hotel would require relocation of thousands
of refugees to alternate housing. But as this building is still standing, we
don’t want to imagine living in there, as the safety of the residents remains
in risk. Parts of the building have started to crumble from decades of
salvaging activity and as we know from Internet recourses it is only the matter
of time until a floor will collapse. One of the other reasons, why we are not
really interested in living there is the consideration that Beira is not a
wealthy city; it’s unlikely the government can afford any kind of changes to
make city more habitable and hospitable.
Olta Tuholi, Arda Skllavi and Ulvia Alijeva
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