ZIMBABWE: In the hills of southeastern corner of Zimbabwe, near Lake Mutirikwi and the town of Masvingo, a great city of stone rises out of the ground and dominates the landscape. It has been designated a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as World Heritage Site since 1986.
For centuries, this ancient Shona city, called the Great Zimbabwe stood as the hub of a vast trade network. One of its most prominent features are it walls, some of which are over five meters high and were constructed without mortar. In addition to architecture, Great Zimbabwe’s most famous works of art are the eight birds carved of soapstone that were found in its ruins.
Today it stands empty, but it is still a spectacular monument to the ingenuity and craftsmanship of the Africans who built it a thousand years ago.
