Felsenkirche atop Diamond Hill at the end of Kirche St.
In the small town of Lüderitz, Namibia, high atop Diamantberg (Diamond Hill) at the end of Kirche St., an old German Lutheran church towers above the town. This is Felsenkirche, which translates to “Rock Church,” and it is so named because it sits upon that aforementioned rocky hill. This church is in the Vertical Gothic style, and it dates back to 1912. Today it is designated a Namibian national monument. All the photos shown in today’s article were taken atop Diamond Hill, including many inside Felsenkirche itself. But before I get to today’s photo gallery/slide show, I want to show you the view facing south through west. This is the southern portion of Lüderitz Bay and the Lüderitz Nest Hotel, and if you don’t get up here you’ll probably not see it otherwise:
Lüderitz Bay
Now for today’s presentation of Diamond Hill views and the Felsenkirche:
Over the past several weeks I took a break whilst showing you the fascinating Kolmanskop ghost town (that five-week series began on 6 April at this link: The Ghost Town Picture Series — Part 1). Now it’s time to show you the port our cruise ship. the Azamara Journey, visited for that trip to Kolmanskop. So, before I begin another extensive and exhausting travel series, I have two additional things to present to you. This week will feature Lüderitz, Namibia. Next week is a series on classic and collectible Smith and Wesson revolvers. Meanwhile, while my Ghost Town, Lüderitz, and S&W revolver series play out, I’m off to rest, relax, recharge, perform jury duty, and head out on a trans-Panama Canal repositioning cruise from Miami to Seattle. After all that, I’ll be showing you Southeast Asia — ranging from a return to Singapore, to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, to the streets of Bangkok, stops in Malaysia, an elephant safari in Sri Lanka, and extensive travels throughout India, including a tiger safari.
The Church on The Rock — Die Felsenkirche
Now let’s discussLüderitz, a very small town (population about 16,000) on the coast in southwest Namibia. It sits on the western edge of the Namib desert. So, how dry is the Namib? Average rainfall is 0.39 inches/10mm per year. And it gets even drier along the cost, with rainfall there coming in a 5mm!
Lüderitz’s oddball architecture ranges from Colonial to Jugendstil to Art Nouveau
As with much of Namibia, German influences abound everywhere. After all, Namibia used to be the German Southwest Africa colony until July 1915 and the Southwest Africa Campaign during World War I. These German influences are especially evident in Namibian architecture, which ranges from German Colonial (a combination of Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Baroque, and Neo-Gothic styles) to Art Nouveau to Jugendstil — a German-Austrian offshoot of the Art Nouveau movement. This is Goerke House, which is in the Jugendstil style. And if that weren’t German enough for you, Goerke House is at the intersection of Diamantberg St. at Zepplin.
Goerke House — Jugendstil architecture
An interesting feature of the Goerke House is a wall-mounted, north-facing (we are, after all, south of the equator), vertical sundial built into the north façade. You can see it on the right side of the tower in the image above. That tower, by the way, faces another Lüderitz landmark on nearby Diamond Hill, the imposing Felsenkirche. I will present Felsenkirche to you in Wednesday’s article. But for now, here is a better view of the Goerke House sundial:
Goerke House sundial
Farther north, on Hohe St. just downhill from Felsenkirche, I snagged this fun image with Goerke House in the background:
Hohe St., Lüderitz, Namibia
Near this house, where Kirche St. merges into Berg, is where I snagged this image of Haus Grünewald and the Painted Ladies of Lüderitz:
Haus Grünewald and the Painted Ladies of Lüderitz
Where Hohe St. T-bones into Dias St. is the Namibia Maritime Museum. We didn’t go inside the museum, but we did stomp around the grounds for some fun photographs, some of which I’ll be sharing in this week’s Fun Photo Friday. Until those photographs publish, you’ll just have to content yourself with this massive, colorful, Maritime Museum compass rose:
Outside the grounds of the Namibia Maritime Museum, along Dias St. just north of the intersection with Nachtigall St., we stumbled upon this:
Maritime mural on Dias St.
By now we were getting a bit tired and decided to head by to the Azamara Journey, so we headed north toward Roberts Harbour. But when we reached a traffic circle we detoured a bit back to the south on Bismark St. Here we came across the historic Deutsche Afrika Bank building constructed in 1907. As you can see, it is in the German Colonial style, and it was the first bank erected in Lüderitz:
Historic Deutsche Afrika Bank building, now the Commercial Bank of Namibia
We were feeling a bit parched by this time, so we took a break just north of this bank and went into the Cosy Corner Coffee Shop. Being forewarned against drinking the local water, and bearing in mind that ice is made from water, we opted for canned refreshments. So, I’ll leave you today with this “Pause that Refreshes” featuring local soda. The can on the right is Sparletta Creme Soda, and on the left is Stoney Ginger Beer:
Stoney Ginger Beer and Sparletta anitfreeze Creme Soda
After five weeks, my break is over. This Week 5, Fun Photo Friday 5 concludes my Ghost Town Series. In case you were stumped by what town was featured in this series, it is Kolmanskop (German name: Kolmannskuppe), and it is located 12.5 kilometers/7.8 miles east of Lüderitz in southern Namibia. The photos presented to you over the past five weeks were taken on 5 February of this year (2026) during our second African cruise out of Cape Town in just ten months. Next week, since I’m showing you this area, I will present to you our images of Lüderitz. But right about now you’re probably wondering about Kolmanskop, so I’ll give you more information in a moment. First:
Kolmanskop (Kolmannskuppe), Namibia
Kolmanskop (Afrikaans for “Coleman’s Peak”) is a ghost town in the Namib, a desert that stretches from South Africa to Angola. If that sounds like a long stretch, that’s because it is — 1,200 miles/2,000 kilometers from south to north. It also reaches as far as 100 miles/160 kilometers inland. And if the town looks and sounds German, there’s a reason for that as well.
Ghost Town — a former diamond mining town
The town was built by Germans in what at the time was known as German South West Africa, and it was constructed to support diamond mining. But the diamond fields started petering out after World War I, and by the late 1920s other mines had superseded its importance. By 1956 the last residents gave up the ghost, so to speak.
By the way, I promised one non-B&W image from this fascinating ghost town, and here it is. I’m including it because you’ve seen it numerous times in this series. This yellow-flowered bush below is the grey dune saladbush (Didelta carnosa tomentosa) and it’s a member of the daisy family:
Grey dune saladbush (Didelta carnosa tomentosa)
I hope you enjoyed this excursion into black and white photography. Next week I’ll show you the nearby town of Lüderitz, since we’re (metaphorically) out here anyway with this series.
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