Casa Coimbra

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The central commercial building of Casas Coimbra on Avenida da República (now Avenida 25 de Setembro) was opened in 1940 and demolished in 2012. (Recording from 2009)
First major branch of the Casa Coimbra department store chain on Rua Consiglieri Pedroso (advert from 1929).

Casa Coimbra was a well-known department store founded around 1895 in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique . The department store was located in a three-story commercial building on Avenida da República (today Avenida 25 de Setembro ) in the center of the colonial capital Lourenço Marques (today Maputo ). The department store disappeared in the course of Mozambique's independence, the building was demolished by the Mozambican government in the course of the construction of the new headquarters of the Mozambican Central Bank in 2012.

history

founding

In 1887 , Abdool Latif Ayob Vakil, from Junagadh ( British India , now India), traveled to Mozambique in order to hope for a better future there - there was already a larger Pakistani-Indian community in the Portuguese colony before that. He returned briefly to convince his grandfather that it was a good idea to open a business in Mozambique and received 500 gold pounds as start-up capital. His brothers Abdool Sacoor Ayob Vakil and Abdool Reheman Ayob Vakil followed him to the colony. Initially, the brothers began to work as flying traders in the city center before they could open their first small shop in the Malanga district (according to other sources Mafala). The brothers mainly sold fabrics and small goods that were bought especially by the indigenous Mozambicans.

Business was extremely good, so that the brothers were soon able to expand and called their youngest brother, Abbdool Karim Ayob Vakil, to Mozambique. In 1895 she was able to open her first shop in the city center, in the Travessa da Linha. Further branches followed, including a menswear store in 1907 and a womenswear store in 1910. In 1913, the brothers moved into their newest branch in Rua Consiglieri Pedroso , which was then the most important shopping street in the colonial capital. In addition to the fashion items from England, they also sold fabrics from the Coimbra region (Portugal), which are very popular in the colony . For this reason, the nickname "Coimbra" soon arose for the business, which the brothers took over directly and called their business activities "Casa Coimbra".

Construction and opening of the central department store

In 1930 the eldest brother, Abdool Latif, died, and the other two brothers were also killed in a car accident, so that the youngest brother, Abdool Karim, took over the management of Casa Coimbra. Through good relations with the bank, he was given a large piece of land on Avenida da República (now Avenida 25 de Setembro ) from 1938-39 . For around 7,500 accounts - a lot of money at that time, especially during the Second World War - Abdool Karim had a central department store built in order to be able to combine the sales activities of all branches in one building. Shortly before construction began, the then Minister for Colony, General Carmona, also visited the company, which was seen as a great appreciation.

Construction work began in 1939 and was completed by the end of 1940. The three-story, early-modern style building was the first in the Portuguese colony to be constructed with rebar (from South Africa). The building was also the first in the colony to have an elevator. It is not known who was responsible for the design of the building.

The opening took place on December 16, 1940 and was a major event for the colonial capital. The opening took place in the presence of numerous personalities, including the Governor General, the Bispo de Leuce , the Governor of South Sava and the Mayor of the city of Lourenço Marques. Since Abool Karim was of Muslim faith, there was only water and biscuits from the Pasteleria Hazis at the opening.

With the opening, Casa Coimbra no longer only sold fashion, but actually functioned as the colony's first full department store. The house employed around 110 people, 90 of whom were (white) Portuguese, with black Mozambicans with so-called indigenous status also working there for the first time.

After Mozambique gained independence

In the course of Mozambique's independence in 1975, FRELIMO nationalized all companies and banned private sales activities. Little is known about the whereabouts of the Ayob Vakil family. The building continued to exist, but was mostly empty. In the course of the new building of the Mozambican Central Bank, the Mozambican government demolished the building in 2012. Due to the good construction with reinforcing steel and the surrounding buildings, it was not possible to blast it, so it was removed piece by piece.

The building was not a listed building. The work has the number 31980 in the Portuguese monument database Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Susana Pereira de Bastos: Indian Transnationalisms in colonial and postcolonial Mozambique . In: Samples. Viennese magazine for critical African studies . tape 5 , no. 8 . Vienna 2005, p. 10 f . ( lohana.info [PDF]).
  2. ↑ a b c d e Nuno Roque da Silveira: Lourenço Marques ̣ Acerto de Contas com o Passado 1951 | 1965 . 1st edition. Edições Colibri, Lisboa 2011, ISBN 978-989-689-167-1 .
  3. ↑ a b A CASA COIMBRA EM LOURENÇO MARQUES. In: The Delagoa Bay World. March 25, 2012, Retrieved August 6, 2016 (Portuguese).
  4. ↑ Era uma vez a Casa Coimbra! In: macua.blogs.com. March 25, 2012, Retrieved August 6, 2016 (Portuguese).
  5. ^ Tiago Lourenço: Casa Coimbra. In: Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico. 2011, Retrieved August 6, 2016 (Portuguese).

Coordinates: 25 ° 58 ′ 22 ″  S , 32 ° 34 ′ 14.2 ″  E