An informal tour of Maputo's architecture highlighted buildings designed by Portuguese-born architect Amâncio "Pancho" Guedes from the 1950s and 1960s.
Guedes designed over 500 buildings in Maputo, including apartment blocks, government offices, churches, and bakeries. Examples include the Prédio Abreu, Santos e Rocha, The Smiling Lion apartment block, The Lemon Squeezer church, and The Dragon House.
The Dragon House features a mural of a spiky dragon in black and white stone in its stairwell. Guedes' style is described by critics as "Eclectic Modernist," blending sculptural and figurative elements with practical requirements and local identity.
The author and a colleague discovered the architecture while reporting on changes to U.S. funding for AIDS in Africa. They conducted the tour using online research during half a day off.