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MERENSKY LIBRARY
If you had to think up the perfect design for a library, wouldn’t an open book be a good idea? This is what architect Gerhard Moerdyk came up with when he was commissioned to design a new library for the University of Pretoria in 1934. The university had a benefactor in Hans Merensky, the famous geologist.
Merensky had discovered diamonds in Namibia; copper, vermiculite, phosphates and gold in the Free State and Mpumalanga; and the world’s largest deposits of chrome and platinum in South Africa.
He was the son of German missionaries, and had been born on a mission station in Botshabelo in Mpumalanga in 1871.
Merensky decided to study geology in Germany, and had to go through military training in the German army before he was allowed to start university. Unfortunately, this meant he was imprisoned during World War 1 when he was back in South Africa, which left him depressed and broken.
But Merensky bounced back, and within a year of his release from prison, discovered the immense platinum deposits near Lydenberg. By this time, he was well into middle age.
Merensky spent the rest of his life giving back to South Africa. He donated £10 000, a fortune at the time, for the building of the library.
Moerdyk designed the building to look like an open book, and incorporated a zig-zag pattern into the brickwork that was a visual echo of the ruins of Great Zimbabwe. Other elements, such as the details of carved crocodiles and birds, are said to represent the freedom and creativity of an author.
Bevelled green glass windows, imported from Italy, help protect the valuable books from the bright African sun.
The Merensky library is now a museum, and stands as a testament to the ingenuity and tenacity of two sons of South Africa’s soil.
Buy the book for R90 at CNA, Exclusive Books, Spar, Makro or takealot.com
