Harare
— — the city the jacarandas turn purple in October.
Not only on a wall.
“A capital on the plateau, sitting close to a mile high, with a climate that runs cool and dry most of the calendar. Avenue trees were planted by the British colonial administration in the early 1900s; the jacarandas they chose now turn most of the central streets purple for about six weeks each October and November. The city took its present name in 1982, two years after independence.
Harare, 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.
Harare is the capital and largest city of Zimbabwe, set on the Highveld plateau in the northeast of the country at roughly 1,490 metres of elevation. The city proper holds about 1.5 million residents, with a metropolitan area near 2.4 million. It was founded in 1890 by the Pioneer Column of Cecil Rhodes's British South Africa Company as Fort Salisbury and renamed Harare on April 18, 1982, the second anniversary of Zimbabwean independence. The subtropical highland climate keeps temperatures mild across all twelve months, with a wet season from November to March.
Two seasons define the city's look. From late October through mid-November the jacaranda trees lining Josiah Tongogara Avenue, Second Street, and most of the central grid bloom in deep purple, a flowering planted by the colonial administration in the early 1900s. The rains arrive shortly after, running heavy through late January, with the surrounding farmland turning green and the Mukuvisi Woodlands on the southeast edge of the city carrying its highest birdlife. The cool dry winter from May through August brings nighttime lows near 7°C and reliably clear days.
The National Heroes Acre, designed by North Korean architects and completed in 1981, sits on a hill seven kilometres west of the centre and admits visitors with a small fee and a guide. Mbare Musika, the largest open-air market in the country, opens daily on the south side and is best visited mid-morning. The Zimbabwe National Gallery on Julius Nyerere Way holds one of southern Africa's strongest collections of Shona stone sculpture. Avondale, Borrowdale, and the Sam Levy's Village area on the north side carry the cafés and bookshops.