PHOTO: Greg Cox | PRODUCTION: Tina-Marie-Malherbe | INFORMATION: Issued by Zahieda Van Der Forte
An old fort, where the breathtaking pictures for the “Treasure Hunt” decor shoot in VISI 53 were taken, will bear witness to the ABSOLUT VISI Designer of the Year Award this year.
The venue for this year’s ABSOLUT VISI Designer of the Year Award is steeped in history, which makes it more than perfect for an event that has become a highlight on the South African design calendar.
The Chavonnes Cannon Battery Museum in Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront – where VISI guests will be celebrating good design on 23 February – was operative until 1860, when it was buried during the construction for the Victoria and Alfred basin. The museum in it’s current form is yet another masterpiece by architect Gabriel (Gawie) Fagan.
Generations of military historians and enthusiasts – who all knew what it had looked like and where it was located – ground their teeth in frustration because the battery was buried forever under warehouses and, later, a large fish-processing factory. Or so they thought.
Fortunately, the Board of Executors (now part of Nedbank), having acquired the site for its new head office in 1999, demolished the fish factory, had the battery carefully and professionally excavated, and hired Fagan to turn it into a museum that now occupies most of the BoE building’s basement.
The battery was built between 1715 and 1726 by the then Governor of the Cape, Mauritz Pasque, the Marquis De Chavonnes. Apart from the Castle of Good Hope it is the oldest surviving fortification in Cape Town.
Defence against attack
De Chavonnes, a veteran soldier before joining the service of the Dutch East India Company, built the battery to prevent either of the other two East India Companies from landing on Cape Town’s western flank and hijacking the vitally important replenishment station (competition was literally cut-throat in those days).
Over the next 70 years there was a vast expansion of the Cape’s defences and the Chavonnes Battery was the first in a chain of coastal fortifications that would eventually turn the Cape Peninsula into one of the most heavily defended places in Africa.
While always ready to defend the Cape, none of the great cannons at the Chavonnes Battery – some weighing over three tons – ever had to fire a shot. But the battery and its fellows were so lethal that during the 143 years that the Company ruled the Cape no hostile fleet ever dared sail into the bay to attack Cape Town.
Currently, the Chavonnes is a functional museum and, because of its strategic location in the Waterfront, a sought-after venue for private functions. Among the ruins and modernity, successful book launches, art exhibitions, photo shoots, social functions and product launches have been held.
As a museum and venue in a prime location, the Chavonnes Museum is an ancient treasure and a modern miracle. It’s the Cannon Battery “that came back from the dead”.
Open: Wednesdays to Sundays, 09h00 – 16h00 (Tours available from 12h30 on request)
Closed: Monday – Tuesday
Entrance fee: R25 for adults, R20 for pensioners, R10 for children (Discounts for groups)
Contact info: 021 416 6230, info@chavonnesmuseum.co.za, www.chavonnesmuseum.co.za
