Bell king's palace, a photo from Littoral, South

Photographer's Note

This pagoda shaped building is called Bell king's palace after the Bell dynasty who used to rule the Littoral area where Douala is located.

This palace is located in Bonanjo, downtown Douala, close to the place where I live. I made a stop there this morning and had a picture. I was thinking about this stop for about three weeks but the weather was quite bad so when I saw few rays of light this morning, I could not miss that opportunity to drive around.

The Bell king (Lobe Bebe Bele Ba Doo) was one of the 4 main kings who ruled the actual Douala together with Kings Akwa, Priso and Ekwalla. Each of them did rule a specific area of the actual Douala respectively called Bonanjo, Bonaberi, Akwa and Deido. They were dealing with the European people within a court called "court of Equity" which was set up in 1856.

The building itself was built in 1905.

albertopiubello, vhemmati, ribeiroantonio, sebcz has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

albertopiubello (2623) 2006-10-15 17:41

Voici une image "domestique" Steven!
En effet aujourd'hui c'était la bonne journée pour prendre des photos à Douala!
Belle prise de vue du palais du roi Manga Bell.
As-tu visité le café des arts à coté?
Alberto

ribeiroantonio (22730) 2006-10-16 3:41

It looks very interesting but has some features very common in old buildings in Angola. I am talking about the bad maintenance it shows on the exterior, the car parked just against the side wall, the heavily fenced area in the front, grilled veranda, etc. By the way, what is that sign on top of the left door?
The photo is very good. If you were waiting for a good day, you got it. The sky is also very good.
Antonio

sebcz (2345) 2006-10-16 4:12