Bangui
— the river city where the Ubangi slows.
Not only on a wall.
“Capital of the Central African Republic, on the north bank of the Ubangi River where the great Congo-basin waterway slows enough for crossing. The French founded the post in 1889 at the foot of the Ubangi rapids, opposite the village of Zongo on the present-day Congolese side. A city of roughly 900,000 today, ringed by green hills, the cathedral and the central market its long-standing landmarks.
Bangui, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Bangui is the capital and largest city of the Central African Republic, on the right bank of the Ubangi River roughly across from the town of Zongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The city was founded in 1889 by French colonial expedition as an administrative post for the territory then called Ubangi-Shari. It became the capital of the independent Central African Republic in 1960. The current population is estimated at roughly 900,000, which is close to a fifth of the entire country. The city lies at about 369 metres above sea level, in a bend of green hills.
The Ubangi River, the largest right-bank tributary of the Congo, runs past Bangui for some 2,300 kilometres of its full length. Just upstream of the city the river breaks into a stretch of cataracts known as the Ubangi Rapids, which historically marked the practical head of navigation from Brazzaville and Kinshasa. River traffic still moves goods between Bangui and Brazzaville when the water is high; pirogues cross to Zongo on the Congolese bank daily. The river forms a natural border with the Democratic Republic of the Congo for hundreds of kilometres downstream of the capital.
Travel advisories for the Central African Republic remain strict; most Western foreign ministries advise against non-essential travel to the country. Visitors who do come typically enter through Bangui M'Poko International Airport, with arranged transport on the ground. The Boganda National Museum, named for first prime minister Barthélemy Boganda, holds the country's main ethnographic collection. Notre-Dame Cathedral, completed in 1937 in red brick, sits in the central district and remains the seat of the Archdiocese of Bangui. The riverfront at PK0 is the city's traditional meeting point.