GRAND HOTEL
BY WALL DONE, 23/08/2010
‘O Grande Hotel’ began its life in the '50s, it was regarded as the most luxurious hotel in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. The dream fell apart when the independence struggle began in 1964. The Portuguese dictatorship fell in 1974 and Mozambique became independent the following year. Shortly after the country was divided by civil war. The 16 years long conflict caused mass of displaced families.
The abandoned Grand Hotel was for many, their new home. The former colonial wealth was stripped and sold to the hungry bellies of the residents to fill. What now remains is a ruin without electricity and running water where about 3,000 people are hiding. Shadows, hidden from the eye, live down the social ladder.
All images © Bruyneel Tjorven
