A Visit to the King
Abby Saila@sailaabby718822
2 months ago
Genre: Memoir
Format: Experience memoir
The sun was peeking out of its hiding place when we arrived at Osu Castle, although it is known as a Museum in Accra Ghana, we were introduced to a distinguished member of the incoming John Atta Mills administration. The member, a man of skillful intelligence and a deep well of knowledge gave us facts of this grandiose setting. We were prepared to be dazzled by its art and culture, and also to be equipped with vital information when we leave. The Osu Castle is located on the Gulf of Guinea in Africa. The castle’s origins can be traced to a lodge built by Swedes in 1652. Nine years later, the Danish built a fort on the site and called it Fort Christiansborg “Christian’s Fortress”, named after the King of Denmark, Christian IV. Over time, the fort was enlarged and converted into a castle.
With the permission of the staff of the castle assigned to us, I took a picture close to the water cistern in the courtyard inscribed with the name ‘’Carl Gustav Engmann’’, the Danish Governor of the fort from 1752 to 1757. Before the Danish arrived the Portuguese were there first. The Portuguese were the first to build a makeshift trading post on the site in the 16th Century. In 1661, the land was acquired by the Danes from the Ga King, Nii Okaikoi for 3200 gold florins. The Danes then built a small stone fort which they named after King Christian of Denmark and Norway. Thus the name “Christiansborg.”
As I stood on the battlement facing the Atlantic Ocean the tweet-tweet of the flamboyant air creatures resonated in the soul giving an ambience an aura of tranquility. Even after been informed that the late President Atta Mills was buried in a bird sanctuary overlooking the Atlantic Ocean did not alter the serene atmosphere. The purpose of the Christiansborg Castle was mainly for trading gold, ivory and enslaved people. Small boats ferried goods and captives to large ships docked in the deeper waters off the coast.
With captivation written on our faces we listened as the gallant member recounted that “from the shores, many African captives were brutally and forcibly shipped to the Danish Antilles in the Caribbean. The islands were of St. Thomas, St. Croix and St. John, now the U.S Virgin Islands, were sold by Denmark to the US for 25 million in gold in 1917. On these Islands large fortunes were made using slave labor of African captives in sugar cane plantations.”
Walking in a surreal state I pondered on the stairs leading to the entrance of the fort that has seen many alterations over the years though the small arch-shaped entrance is still labeled with the Danish
imperial monogram. Newer additions to the Christiansborg Castle are still used as government offices. A part of the old Fort is also currently used as the ECOWAS Multinational Maritime Coordination Centre.
Circling back to the courtyard, we were gratified by this place of horrendous splendor that appeared like a book within a book discovery. It is a place of human captivity. The courtyard showed in tidbit details that various groups have inhabited the fort over time. In the center is a three-path stairway. On both sides are buildings with monograms and in the years in which they were built and at its base, on the right are storerooms used as warehouses for goods including gold, elephant tusks and liquor. On the left, the dungeons which are now sealed were used for holding human captives. We had to go on our hands and knees because the dungeon was constructed at such low level, specifically to aid the torturer in dragging the captives through. There were echoes of human suffering and time hung in space in that place of gloom.
The staffs had a deep ingrained altruistic spirit which was displayed time and time again as we set to view the next room that was the Governor’s dining hall. Set at the heart of the fort, it used to entertain visiting merchants and negotiate trade deals over elaborate dinners.
After grabbing a quick lunch, we were shown the chapel next. In 1679 following a mutiny during the period of Danish occupancy, the Fort was sold to the Portuguese. Their four-year period of ownership and occupation which was precisely from 1679 to 1683, is evidenced by the change of name of the castle to “Sao Francis Xavier” and the construction of a Catholic chapel. The “Mulatto School” was our next stop. After the Christiansborg castle reverted to the Danes, the chapel housed the ‘Mulatto School’ created especially for the purpose of educating the offspring of Danish officers born to African mothers. The chapel was last used as a place of worship by Ghana’s late former president, John Atta Mills.
We gravitated to the room that Queen Elizabeth slept in. The Queen’s Room located on the east side of the second floor dates to the 20th Century. This is where Queen Elizabeth II slept when she visited Ghana in 1961 as a guest of President Kwame Nkrumah. The room has been preserved with the same bed, lamps, beside tables and wardrobe.
Not to be seen as the least we were marched to view the office of President Jerry John Rawlings. A room on the top floor of the northwestern section of the Castle, was built by the British Governor Sir Gordon Guggisberg in 1925. It was used by Ghana’s late President Rawlings during his tenure as military Head of State followed by civilian President of the 4th Republic, from 1981 to 2001. The office has a window facing the entrance, giving its occupant a view of anyone entering or leaving the castle. Strategic don’t you think?
Final note: to be a prolific, successful writer is to be fearless, daring and dauntless and willing to go the extra mile necessary, to take that one step that’s needed to get the job done. We stood at the gates of Osu Castle, each of us wrapped in whorls of thoughts and then as if pulled on a string we did an about turn making sure that what we had witnessed so far was not a figment of someone’s overactive imagination. From any angle, the Osu Castle was different from what we expected with its portrayal of imposing innocent grandiose while hiding within its walls stories of suffering and pain just waiting to be crafted on the pages of a book like a hyper-realistic drawing, frozen, suspended in time.
© sailabby
#storyteller #memoir #nirclestories #creative #Visitotheking #OsuCastle #nircle
