Cape Cross stone Back on home soil

Eileen van der Schyff

The 15th century Cape Cross is back on Namibian soil after an ab-sence of very close to 125 years. The Cross, planted at Cape Cross by the Portuguese explorer Diego Cao in 1486, was removed by the German colonial Government on orders of the German Emperor, William II, on 25 January 1895 and sent to the German Museum of Technology and later to the German Historical Museum in Berlin (as pictured above).

South Africa’s Representative and advisor to the Portuguese government, Manuel Coelho, on Friday confirmed telephonically from Pretoria the arrival of the Cross on Namibian soil.
“The Cape Cross Stone has arrived safely in Namibia from Germany. The Namibian Government will release a press statement in due course”, said Coelho.
The German Historical Museum in Berlin, Germany returned the Stone Cross of Cape Cross, a key cultural artefact, to Namibia. The cross was placed on Namibia’s coast by Portuguese explorers and is a symbol of Namibia’s colonial past.
William II, emperor of Germany, had a replica built and on 23 January 1895 positioned it 15 meters from the place where the original cross was located before the original cross was shipped off to Germany.