Wagenaer's Reservoir, Sanlam Golden Acre-Cape Town

In the heart of the 'Mother City', Golden Acre Shopping Centre has been a key part of everyday life in Cape Town since 1979.

This shopping-Centre on the site of the original train station, the shopping Centre forms an integral link between the CBD and is an underground passage to other, major public transport systems. This ancient aqueduct dates back to the 1600's. This ancient structure was originally built in 1663, to capture and supply water for the ships sailing around the Cape toward the Spice Islands.

These ruins are located inside this shopping mall in Cape Town. The ruins just happened to be unearthed in 1975, in the building of this complex, in the heart of Cape Town. These ruins have been preserved exactly where they were found and since then have been declared a National Monument. When Jan van Riebeek arrived at the Cape in 1652 he had a dam dug to supply water to sailing ships. This proved unsatisfactory, and in 1663 the Here XVII, or Board of Directors of the Dutch East India Company, (VOC), instructed Zacharias Wagenaer, the only German Governor of the Dutch East India Company, to build a reservoir to improve the water-supply. A part of this reservoir' and later structures built in the area were discovered during the building operations (of the Golden Acre Mall Complex) in 1975. The ruin was excavated by the South African Museum. They are the oldest remaining Dutch structures in South Africa.