Champ de Mars (Port Louis)
Champ de Mars in Port Louis , the capital of Mauritius , is the oldest horse racing track in the southern hemisphere .
The racetrack
Port Louis is bounded inland by a mountain range. The French military built a parade ground on the last flat area in front of the mountain slopes . After the Mauritius campaign , the French colony of Mauritius became British. On June 25, 1812, The Mauritius Turf Club (MTC), founded earlier that year by Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar , the first British governor, opened the southern hemisphere's first racecourse on the square. It is an oval course with a length of 1298 meters and a width between 12 and 14 meters.
After Mauritius gained independence on March 12, 1968, the independence ceremony took place at the racetrack.
Horse races are still held regularly today, attracting tens of thousands of visitors.
Champ de Mars in 1880
Maiden Cup 2006 - To The Line, race winner
Malartic Tomb
Governor Anne Joseph Hippolyte de Malartic (1730–1800) was revered as the "father of the colony". He was buried on the "Champs des Mars" parade ground, where 12 years later the first horse racing track in the southern hemisphere was built. His tomb
, a monumental obelisk , was designed by the architect Gastambide. However, since the money ran out, the obelisk remained a stub. In the 1840s the obelisk was finalized in a simplified version. On April 20, 1892, a cyclone devastated the island and destroyed the top of the obelisk. In the following years the obelisk was restored again. The monument is a listed building.
King Edward VII statue
The statue of King Edward VII (1841-1910) on the Champ de Mars was placed under monument protection in 1978. In his 9-year reign from 1901 to 1910, he was also king of the British colony of Mauritius. The statue by the sculptor Maurice Loumeau (1878–1945) was inaugurated in 1912.
See also
Map with all coordinates: Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The Mauritius Turf Club . Stampsmauritius.com. Retrieved October 4, 2012.
- ^ Save our heritage: Le tombeau de Malartic . Website about cultural monuments in Mauritius
- ↑ National Monuments of Mauritius. Volume 1: Port-Louis District. 1988, p. 23.
- ↑ Save our heritage: Statue de Sa Majesté le Roi Edward VII . Website about cultural monuments in Mauritius