Description of the attraction
In addition to the wild African nature, Zimbabwe is also famous for its distinctive and ancient culture. Greater Zimbabwe is believed to have been the main shrine and cult center of the Shona (Bantu people) ancestors. The city was founded ca. 1130 A. D. NS. and existed for two to three centuries. In ancient times, it was the center of the Monomotapa state, also known as the power of Great (Great) Zimbabwe, Muene Mutapa or Munhumutapa. At one time it was believed that it was here that the famous mines of King Solomon were located. Many monuments of this ancient civilization have been preserved on the territory of the country.
The monument, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1986 and located 28 km south of Masvingo, has been known for its splendor since the 16th century, when, thanks to Portuguese travelers, its existence became known outside the African continent. Spread over an area of 720 hectares, the Monument is a strikingly majestic architecture of ancient stones and is usually divided into three architectural complexes. The hill complex, or hill fort, is a series of stone walls that form an ellipse and are piled up on an 80-meter boulder.
The Great Walls are a massive structure with a circumference of about 255 m, a height of 10 m and in some places up to 5 m wide. The valley complex is the ruins located between the first two complexes, where an engraving of the Bird of Zimbabwe, which later became the symbol of the country, was discovered. These walls are the main remains of a large city inhabited in the 13th-15th centuries, with an estimated population of about 20,000. The population of the city lived in thatched huts, built on the basis of dagi (a mixture of alumina and gravel), and the rulers and nobles lived in buildings made of stone walls.
