Zimbabwe Acropolis

Zimbabwe Acropolis is by the German-South African artist Ernst Karl (Erich) Mayer (1876-1960). Just before the start of the Second World War Mayer traveled Southern Africa to draw and paint. This was one of the reasons that, when South Africa joined the Second World War on the Allied side, Mayer was interred in a camp, as he was feared to be German spy. The Zimbabwe Acropolis is the most famous part of the Great Zimbabwe Ruins, one of the most important and elaborate stone-walled archaeological sites in Southern Africa. Short Biography: Mayer was born in Karlsruhe in Germany in 1876, he immigrated to the Transvaal in 1898 to come and search his fortune. He however had a long and difficult road in the country. Just over a year after coming to the Transvaal, the South African War (1899-1902) broke out, and he joined the call to arms on the Boer side. Mayer was captured and sent to St. Helena Island as a Prisoner of War. This was first, of three periods Mayer spent in prison during a war. After the war, Mayer made a career mostly by painting small watercolours, usually iconic of the typical South African landscape. In the First World War (1914-1918) as well as the Second World War (1939-1945) Mayer was interred in a concentration camp due to his German heritage. Mayer passed away in 1960.