The Grand Hotel
Mário Macilau
The Grand Hotel
The hotel opened in 1954 when it was billed as the "pride of Africa," and was widely regarded as the largest and most exquisite hotel on the continent. Its owners intended to include a casino, but failed to secure the necessary government authorization. The hotel was never profitable, and never attracted the wealthy clientele it was intended to. It closed as a hotel in the early 1960s. The swimming pool and conference rooms continued to be used during the 1960s and even after the independence in 1975. The last event conducted in the hotel was the new year's eve party in 1980-81.
After the Mozambican independence from Portugal in 1975, many white ethnic Portuguese left the city. Mozambique was ravaged by a civil war from 1977 to 1992, opposing Marxist FRELIMO, which controlled the government, to the rebels of RENAMO, descending to near total chaos in a couple of years. The famine, disease and poverty-stricken country collapsed. In the city of Beira, its famous Grande Hotel, was occupied by around 1,000 homeless Beirans, and by the end of the civil war it was in near-ruins
Since independence in 1975 its basement were used as cells to hold political prisoners. Some members of the police and army started using the third floor as their living quarters. After 1981, it started being taken over by the general population. The new guests used the entire parquet floors as combustible. The building today has no running water or electricity, and is currently inhabited by more than 2,000 families.
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