Constantia (Cape Town)
| Constantia | |||
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| Coordinates | 34 ° 2 ′ S , 18 ° 25 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | South Africa | ||
| Western cape | |||
| metropolis | City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | ZA toilet | ||
| Residents | 12,564 (2011) | ||
Constantia is a southern suburb of the South African city of Cape Town . In 2011 it had 12,564 inhabitants. It is best known for its wineries and is an exclusive residential area. The Pollsmoor Prison, in which Nelson Mandela was imprisoned from 1982 to 1989 after his 18 years' imprisonment on Robben Island , is also located here. Constantia lies on the eastern slopes of the Table Mountain and the Constantia Mountains .
Constantia is a destination for tourists, especially the so-called Constantia Wine Route , where the wineries Groot Constantia , Klein Constantia , Buitenverwachting , Constantia Uitsig and Steenberg can be visited.
The cool microclimate between Table Mountain and Hout Bay determines the character of the wines from the Constantia Valley. They are filled in specially embossed bottles because they are only made from vines that have been grown exclusively in the valley.
From Constantia Nek (the area between Table Mountain and Constantiaberg) there is a hiking trail to the Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden .
history
In 1683, the governor Simon van der Stel was given a large piece of land in the Constantia Valley on the back of Table Mountain for his services to the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie . He initially had various crops grown to supply the ships to and from India with provisions. It turned out that in the Constantia Valley, because of the constant winds and the relatively cold winter, certain grape varieties thrived, and so he specialized in viticulture. In 1685 an avenue of oaks was laid out, but it turned out that the oaks grew far too quickly due to the climatic conditions at the cape and are therefore unsuitable for the production of barrels and corks. The avenue has been preserved to this day. After the governor's death, the farm was quickly run down, Constantia was sold in 1716 and divided into the wineries Groot Constantia, Klein Constantia, Buitenverwachting, Constantia Uitsig and Steenberg.
Groot Constantia
Simon van der Stel, the first governor of the Dutch Cape Colony, decided to plant the first vines on his 750 hectare estate, Groot Constantia. The Constantia wine enjoyed great popularity even among the European nobility in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Groot Constantia is an example of the Cape Dutch style and a well-known architectural landmark in the area. The building from 1684 burned down completely in 1925, but was rebuilt true to the original. It now houses a museum with antique furniture, paintings, glassware and porcelain. A gable above a wine cellar is decorated with stucco reliefs by Anton Anreith from 1791.
literature
- Désirée Picton-Seymour, Janek Szymanowski: Historical Buildings in South Africa . Struikhof, Cape Town 1989, pp. 44-45, ISBN 0-947458-01-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Constantia Heights , Alphen , Bel Ombre , Witteboomen , Glen Alpine , Eagles Nest , Constantia , Silverhurst , Rust-En-Vrede , Barbarossa , Deurdrif , The Vines (Constantia) , Belle Constantia , Graylands , Constantia Village , Constantia Vale , Sillery , Huis-In-Bos , Hope of Constantia , Nova Constantia , Airlie , Fir Grove , Sweet Valley 2011 Census (aggregated), accessed November 18, 2013