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Dear Guest,
We would like to welcome you to our Restaurant and Lounge Bar.
As a great history lover, the name of the restaurant has
carefully been chosen by the owner out of sentimental value for
this great Basque city in Spain. Many of you might be familiar
with the name "La Guernica", as it's the only one humane,
political work of art in the last sixty years that has achieved
real fame and was painted by Picasso. A replica of the painting
can be found inside the lounge area.
The Painting
The painting was inspired by the bombing of Guernica, at that
time the Basque capital, during the Spanish Civil War. The
painting was first exhibited through the Spanish Pavilion at the
Paris World Exhibition in 1937. In modern art, Guernica is the
most powerful invective against violence, terrorism and abuse of
power.
However, even though the majority of the people are familiar
with this Spanish town through the painting of Picasso, Guernica earned her place in history before that. |
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It was also the main
port from which Columbus set sail with his Armada fleet to
discover the majority of the Caribbean.
The Building
The building which you are going to visit has it's own place in
the history of Bonaire. The original construction is over 150
years old and even though renovations and adjustments were made
in the past to make it more suitable for hospitality services,
the major part of the building remained in it's original shape.
The entire building is made of coral stones, build with seawater.
The salt, that still remains in the walls, is constantly working,
pushing away the cement and paint to find it's way out.
In the early 1950's the building was bought by the family "Heitkönig",
and remained in their possession ever since. The part of the
building where you are going to be, was the old souvenir shop of
mister Heitkönig.
He was well known on the island for his handicraft and original
designs, all made from natural materials. When Bonaire became
more known for it's diving, the shop of Mister Heitkönig was one
of the first shops on the island to sell dive equipment. He was
also well known for his beautiful jewellery made of black coral,
which was found in the deep waters of Bonaire.
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