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ASTRONOMICAL
SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN AFRICA
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| Father Guy Tachard Photo Gallery: |
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Below
are two copies of the same drawing, as well as a building plan and a
map. Read the captions for each item to identify the observatory of
Father Tachard.
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The
drawing is an artistically fanciful drawing of Father Guy Tachard's
Observatory in the VOC gardens at the Cape of Good Hope, 1685. Recognisable
in the drawing is the coastline, a Castle and a mountain. Capetonians
have difficulty in placing this drawing, something is out of place.
Go to the next drawing to solve the puzzle.
Courtesy of Africana Museum, Johannesburg. Source: Moore; Smits [unpublished] |
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This drawing is a
copy of the previous drawing, but flipped around. Imagine the artist
located in the vicinity of Adderley Street, close to where the beach
used to be, perhaps the present day Golden Acre Shopping Centre. (In
the 1920's to 1940's Cape Town had a massive land reclamation project
to build the modern day harbour and thus the whole coastline changed.)
Looking Eastwards, the territory will be familiar with the Castle of
the Cape of Good Hope. Devil's Peak is now recognizable in the background.
Tachard's fanciful observatory building may the identified in the next
drawing.
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When
the Dutch started the Colony at the Cape under the leadership of Jan
van Riebeeck, they built a temporary fortrification out of mud and wood
known as Fort de Goede Hoop (1652). This drawing is a plan of the fortrification.
The fort was of a temporary nature so in 1666 Governor Wagenaer build
a new structure, the Castle of the Cape of Good Hope, a familiar site
to present day Capetonians.
A Plan of Fort de Goede Hoop, 1653 Credit: (H.B. Thom (ed.): Journal of Jan van Riebeck, Vol. 1, p.27) Source: Johnson Barker, J. The Castle of Good Hope from 1666. |
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Fort
de Goede Hoop shown in relation to the Castle site. 1665.
Credit (M3/10; CA) Source: Johnson Barker, J. The Castle of Good Hope from 1666. |
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Director Historical Section: Chris de Coning - siriusa@absamail.co.za Webmaster: Christian Hettlage - webmaster@assa.saao.ac.za |