Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano

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The Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano (in the picture below right) resides in the former Hotel Clube directly on Praça da Independência in the center of Maputo

The Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano (CCFM), in German "French-Mozambican Cultural Center", is a binational cultural institution in the Mozambican capital Maputo . It is located in the center of the city on Avenida Samora Machel or Praça da Independência . The cultural center, founded in 1995, resides in the former Hotel Clube , built in 1898 .

history

Construction of the Hotel Clube

On September 30, 1898 , João Mascarenhas Gaivão , the Portuguese governor of Lourenço Marques , laid the foundation stone for the hotel building called Hotel Clube (also spelled Hotel Club ) on today's Avenida Samora Machel - in colonial times Avenida D. Luís . Rochelle & Smith built the building according to plans by architects Wells & Inc. in the style of "iron architecture" at the turn of the century. Rochelle & Smith were, among other things, later (1902) responsible for the construction of the Hotel King Edward in Port Elizabeth , South Africa . In particular, the rapid growth of Lourenço Marques due to the built railway line required the construction of accommodation.

The building consists of several individual buildings. The main building has two floors, the upper one has a gallery open to the north with a metal roof and fine iron struts. The gallery has small canopies (so-called alpendres ) for the ground floor. The walls are clad with bricks. The ground floor is also open to the north with numerous doors and arched windows and opens directly into the large front garden of the building. The style of the building is typical of the colonial Portuguese construction at the turn of the century, for example also for the Bishop's Palace in Velha Goa .

In the following decades, the Hotel Clube served as a noble, but inner-city hotel, located directly next to the town hall and the cathedral , which were built in the 1940s . After Mozambique gained independence in 1975, it was not used for construction and the hotel fell into disrepair.

Foundation of the Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano

With the conversion of the former hotel to the Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano, a large event stage was created behind the main building, which is used, among other things, for numerous festivals. In the picture the Festival da Marrabenta in January 2011.

On November 6, 1993, Mozambican Foreign Minister Jacinto Soares Veloso and French Foreign Minister Michel Roussin laid the foundation stone for the renovation of the building. The renovation of the 6000 square meter building took two years, especially the restoration of the metal structures and the gutting of the interior spaces took time. On July 13, 1995, the opening of the French-Mozambican cultural center (on Portuguese Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano ) was celebrated by Pascal Mocumbi , Prime Minister of Mozambique, and Didier Destremeau , Ambassador of France.

Today the Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano is one of the most important and important cultural institutions in the Mozambican capital. Numerous events and exhibitions - both with and without a Francophone connection - found and will find space in the rooms of "Franco". These include, for example, the African film festival, the Kinani dance festival or the Festival da Marrabenta . A large stage, a movie hall, a French-Mozambican library and a small café complete the cultural center.

The Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano is one of the five binational cultural centers in France on the African continent. The board of the CCFM is led alternately by the French ambassador and the Mozambican minister of education. The cultural center has been run by Eden Martin since 2012.

Monument status

Since 2011 the building has been in the preselection for a list of monuments for the city of Maputo. In the Portuguese monument database Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico , which also includes monuments to former Portuguese colonies, the building is registered with the number 31,683.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b José Manuel Fernandes: Hotel Club (Atual Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano). In: Património de Influência Portuguesa (HPIP). Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, October 18, 2012, accessed November 1, 2015 (Portuguese).
  2. ↑ CENTRO CULTURAL FRANCO-MOÇAMBICANO: Duas décadas ao serviço da cultura. In: Jornal Notícias. March 25, 2015, accessed November 1, 2015 (Portuguese).
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g Tiago Lourenço: Hotel Clube / Hotel Europa / Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano. In: Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico. 2011, accessed November 1, 2015 (Portuguese).
  4. ↑ CCFM. Centro Cultural Franco-Moçambicano, accessed November 1, 2015 (Portuguese).

Coordinates: 25 ° 58 ′ 12.2 ″  S , 32 ° 34 ′ 24.5 ″  E