The City of Masvingo derives its name from the national shrine of the country, the Great Zimbabwe National Monument. Masvingo is a Shona (indigenous language) name, which means “Building Made out of Stones”. The City, was resuscitated in 1890 by a British Pioneer Column, which had identified the area as ideal for a capital city of the country, then called Fort Victoria.

However, the idea of a capital city was abandoned when the present capital city of Harare was discovered and established as Salisbury. The settlement continued to grow until it became a Town Council in 1926 and a Municipality in 1953. Masvingo attained city status in February 2002.

Although the city itself is some 27km away from the Great Zimbabwe National Monuments, which are structures made up of stones, it is a replica of the Ancient City of Great Zimbabwe in modern form.
The Great Zimbabwe National Monument is bequeathed with a rich cultural heritage, which is a major tourist attraction both locally and internationally. In its ancient times, the Great Zimbabwe was a city of stone buildings built and occupied between 12th and 15th Centuries.

During its peak of power and prosperity in the 13th and 14th Centuries, the ancient city was the largest settlement in Southern Africa with an estimated population of 20 000 inhabitants. The monumental stonewalls were constructed to express wealth, power and pomp of the then civilized population.
No single factor can be attributable for the fall of the once powerful and civilized state of the Great Zimbabwe in the 15th Century. The Great Zimbabwe National Monument is a cultural heritage of perpetual and immortal significance to the nation for political, economic, religious and tourism reasons