Great Zimbabwe Ruins Valley view from Acropolis
Object Details
- General
- Title source: Postcard caption.
- Image indexed by negative number.
- Creator
- Andrea Robbins & Max Becher
- Place
- Africa
- Zimbabwe
- Topic
- Cultural landscapes
- Creator
- Andrea Robbins & Max Becher
- See more items in
- African Postcard Collection
- African Postcard Collection / Series 48: Zimbabwe (RH)
- Extent
- 1 Postcard (col., 13.5 x 17 cm.)
- Date
- 1992
- Archival Repository
- Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art
- Identifier
- EEPA.1985-014, Item EEPA RH-07-22
- Type
- Archival materials
- Postcards
- Picture postcards
- Collection Citation
- African Postcard collection, EEPA 1985-014, Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives, National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.
- Collection Rights
- Permission to reproduce images from the Eliot Elisofon Photographic Archives must be obtained in advance. The collection is subject to all copyright laws.
- Genre/Form
- Picture postcards
- Scope and Contents
- Original caption reads, "Great Zimbabwe Ruins, valley view from "Acropolis" - These ruins, from which the country took its name at the time of independence in 1981, were built by an empire that flourished around 1400 a.d. The ruins are ample evidence of a kind required by the traditional European historian to deem a culture "advanced" or "civilized" (cut stone, complex, mortar-free dwellings to house a far-reaching empire over centuries). However, since their very existence contradicts the particular stereotypes that were used to justify colonialism, willing historians sought to find architects of the ruins other than the local Shona population (Phoenicians, for example), thus challenging the structures' significance as indigenous cultural monuments. Until very recently, their origins were referred to as "mysterious" or "controversial" by some. However, incontrovertible scientific evidence that has been accumulated since the turn of the century places the ruins directly in the historic continuum of the region and its people and is symbolic vindication for the majority population of Zimbabwe as well as for greater Africa."
- Collection Restrictions
- Use of original records requires an appointment. Contact Archives staff for more details.
- Record ID
- ebl-1536871081657-1536871088525-3
- Metadata Usage
- CC0