history
Great Zimbabwe — Great Enclosure
An immense oval wall holds a maze of stone passages and a distinctive conical tower.
The story behind the place
South of Great Zimbabwe’s hill ruins, the Great Enclosure brings a great medieval African city into focus. Its curving granite walls surround smaller divisions and a narrow passage leading toward a conical tower. UNESCO dates this elliptical enclosure to the fourteenth century and describes the wider monument as evidence of the Shona civilisation. Look past the imposing outer wall: the passages and internal divisions reveal an organised place with many connected spaces. The scene concentrates on this enclosure rather than the whole city.
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