One of the cool things about heritage buildings is that they tell a story. Sometimes by accident. Sometimes on purpose. Sometimes it is subtle. Sometimes it is in your face.
An elaborate bordering on garish nouveau riche mansion may be saying, "Hey world, I have arrived!" An imperial-looking corporate headquarters can be designed to proclaim strength, invincibility, safety. Or a building can quite literally convey the inhabitants' world view of events.
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| BHP Billiton |
For instance, on the front of the BHP Billiton building at 6 Hollard Street is a horizontal Art Deco bas relief. The building was erected by a Dutch mining company and the bas relief was designed to offer a clear message to its neighboring British competitors, "We are here and we are not going anywhere!"
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| Petrolium, nuclear energy, and mining |
Much as the Bayeux Tapestry tells the story leading up to the Norman Conquest with a decidedly Norman point of view, the BHP bas relief chronicles the
history of the Joburg and South African mining industry from an Afrikaner perspective.
The story begins at the beginning ...
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| First God created South Africa for the Dutch. |
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| Then the Europeans came including the Dutch who ... |
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| finally claimed it from the natives. |
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| The British came and took over; the Voortrekkers trekked to Pretoria |
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| The natives were not happy about either of them being there. |
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| Gold was found in Gauteng; Joburg was founded as a mining town ... |
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| The Brits and the Afrikaners fought over it in the Anglo-Boer War. Peace. |
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| The mining boom resumes. |
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| more industry ensues. |
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| Uranium is a by-product of mining => welcome to the nuclear age |
The End
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