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A newly refurbished hotel in South Africa has a dark past. The Break Water Hotel was once a brutal 19th century prison. The hotel has kept many of the original features of the prison, including the bars, prisoner graffiti and even a punitive treadmill.
Kept safe under lock and key, this Cape Town hotel has a long history behind it. Its previous incarnation was a 19th century prison. The prisoners it held helped to build Cape Town’s famous waterfront, now a popular tourist attraction.
Willem Steenkamp, historian, said, "One thing you’ve got in jail is a lot of spare time, and all along the wall here you can see examples of what you might call convict art, of various kinds. Over here we’ve got a patriotic Australian, he’s got a wallaby, and he’s got an emu, and he’s got the Australian flag, and the Union Jack, and underneath a logo saying Advance Australia."
Kept safe under lock and key, this Cape Town hotel has a long history behind it.
Cape Town’s Breakwater Prison existed from 1859 to 1910. Today, Protea Hotels run the day to day operations of the hotel and the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business, which shares the premises.
Charl Van Wyk, General Manager of Protea Breakwater Hotel, said, "We’re currently sitting in a bedroom of the recently refurbished Protea Hotel Breakwater Lodge. Not only is it a hotel, but my guests can enjoy a quick walk down to the V & A Waterfront, as well as to walk through the corridors of what is a building with a lot of history."
For visitors staying at the hotel, signs of the hostelry’s previous incarnation abound. The treadmill was built to punish disobedient prisoners.
Willem Steenkamp said, "You had to run faster to keep it going, or otherwise the planks would gash your shins. In the old days it was nothing for blood to be on the floor, dripping down from the man’s shins. And this was the ultimate punishment - this was the worst punishment that they inflicted here."
For the guests staying at the hotel, it’s a far cry from the treadmills in the hotel gym.
Jonathon Reid, hotel guest, said, "When you’re at the gym you can do what you want, and sometimes you have to motivate yourself. I would say, this, you’re tied up to the thing, you have no option, you’re going on the thing for at least six hours and if there’s anything to be said for it, it would definitely make you behave yourself."
These solitary confinement cells would sometimes be the convict’s last stop before being sent to nearby Gallow’s Hill to be publicly executed.
If you visit Cape Town and its V & A Waterfront, spare a thought for those who helped build the city’s harbor, and the circumstances under which they did so.
Kept safe under lock and key, this Cape Town hotel has a long
history behind it.
Cape Town’s Breakwater Prison existed from 1859 to 1910.
中国公众网摘编：GAN JADE |
