Togo - The governors' palaces

The Palace of the Governors was built from 1898 to 1905 under the technical direction of the German engineer FURTKAMP, following the decision of the Governor August KOHLER - the one who erected Lomé as Capital of Togo - to build a palace enough representative that is recognizable at a distance of a thousand kilometers to impress boats. This building is a true masterpiece, distinguished by its "functional form" or "performance form". He aspired, at the time, to the search for prestige, demonstration of power and pride of the German colony. The "head-high" architecture at first glance not only recalls that of the metropolis whose aura it reflects, but it also rhymes - proudly - with the rating of "the German model colony" that constituted the Togo at the time. For the construction, the Germans were able to show a clever combination of local materials, imported materials and German technology. Fired red bricks, iron and steel bars, cement, solid wood planks, plates, corrugated sheets are the main building blocks of this structure. The building is surmounted by two crowns, one male carrying the imperial flag facing the ocean, and the other female, pointed towards the city and the "hinterland", eloquent translation of a whole symbol, that of the dualism of the life but much more that of a comfortable and dissuasive presence on the one hand, prestige, majesty, or royalty, on the other hand, all materializing the function assigned to this building.