A winding staircase built by liberated slaves in 1824 in Mombasa's Old Town has collapsed into the Indian Ocean.
The 200-metre staircase was built by British anti-slavery abolitionist, Lt Colonel Emery, to connect Leven House to the ocean's shore.
Leven House, which is still standing, was built the same year and is named after Lt Colonel Emery's ship.
In the early 19th century, Britain's naval vessels patrolled the Indian Ocean in search of slavers' ships. Although Britain had abolished slave trade and slavery in its dominions, it was still rife on Kenya's coast in the early 1800s, led by Omani rulers who supported the trade until the late 19th century.
FREED SLAVES
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British abolitionists freed thousands of slaves from vessels in the Indian Ocean and settled them in various coastal towns.
Leven House was built during the reign of Omani ruler, Sayyid Said, and was seized or expropriated several times by the British, Omanis, Germans, rival dynasties, as well as several families in Mombasa.
For more than 150 years, it has been used as a diplomatic facility, a colonial office, and an anti-slavery centre.
The National Museums of Kenya (NMK) has attributed the destruction of the stairs to violent waves triggered by climate change.
Speaking at the site on Saturday, NMK's director of antiquities, sites and monuments, Purity Kiura, said more monuments located close to shorelines were being destroyed by strong tidal waves and effects of global warming in the Indian Ocean.
"We have already sounded the alarm that strong tidal waves caused by a warming planet are putting iconic historical sites on coastlines at great risk," said Dr Kiura.
She said the collapse of the Leven House staircase showed that help was urgently needed to restore and safeguard monuments along the coast.
RESTORE AND SAFEGUARD
The NMK Coast region director in charge of sites and monuments, Athman Hussein, said the staircase collapsed during the weekend.
Mr Hussein said this was the second such incident involving a historical site. Part of the famous English Garden near Fort Jesus Museums fell into the sea two years ago.
However, it has since been renovated.
"We are staring at the danger of losing some highly prized historical monuments located close to the shoreline," Hussein said.
He called for the protection of the remaining monuments.
As part of mitigation measures to secure monuments located close to the shoreline, NMK is constructing a wall to secure Fort Jesus, a World Heritage site, from the ocean's waters.
The Government has allocated Sh500 million for the wall, whose civil works are about 50 per cent complete.
