Built and furnished at a cost of over N$500 million, the marble-clad pillars, granite and wooden floors, touch-sensitive escalators, limestone tiles and a water fountain that performs to the tune of Namibian music, may not be to everyone's taste and has been called extravagant and a waste of public money given the country's rampant poverty and status as a least-developed country, but it is awe-inspiring to many and a potent national symbol.
