Voortrekker Monument

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The Monument from the front

The Voortrekker Monument is a monument situated in the city of Pretoria, South Africa. The massive granite structure, built to honour the Voortrekkers (Pioneers)[1] who left the Cape Colony in the thousands between 1835 and 1854, was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk who had the ideal to design a "monument that would stand a thousands of years to describe the history and the meaning of the Great Trek to its descendants"[2]. It can be seen from almost any location in the city, as it is seated on top of a hill.

1 History
2 Main features
3 Monument complex
4 External links

[edit] History

The idea to build a monument in honour of the Voortrekkers was first mooted on 16 December 1888, when President Paul Kruger of the South African Republic attended the Day of the Covenant celebrations at Blood River in Natal. However, the movement to actually build such a monument only started in 1931 when the Sentrale Volksmonumentekomitee (SVK) (Central People's Monuments Committee) was formed to bring this idea to fruition.

Construction started on 13 July 1937 with a sod turning ceremony performed by chairman of the SVK, Advocate E.G.Jansen, on what later became known as Monument Hill. On 16 December 1938 the cornerstone was laid by three descendants of some of the Voortrekker leaders: Mrs. J.C. Muller (granddaughter of Andries Pretorius), Mrs. K.F. Ackerman (great-granddaughter of Hendrik Potgieter) and Mrs. J.C. Preller (great-granddaughter of Piet Retief).

The Monument was inaugurated on 16 December 1949. The total construction cost of the Monument was about £ 360,000, most of which was contributed by the South African government.

A large amphitheatre, which seats approximately 20,000 people, was erected to the north-east of the Monument in 1949.

[edit] Main features

Physically, the Voortrekker Monument is 40 metres high, with a base of 40 metres by 40 metres. The building has strong architectural resemblance to German monuments, in particular the Völkerschlachtdenkmal in Leipzig. The two main points of interest inside the building are the Historical Frieze and the Cenotaph.

Window and Frieze

[edit] Historical Frieze

The main entrance of the building leads into the domed Hall of Heroes. This massive space, flanked by four huge arched windows made from yellow Belgian glass, contains the unique marble Historical Frieze which is an intrinsic part of the design of the monument. The frieze consists of 27 bas-relief panels depicting the history of the Great Trek as well as the every day life, work methods, religious beliefs and way of life of the Voortrekkers. In the middle of the Hall of Heroes is a large circular opening through which the Cenotaph Hall can be viewed.

The Cenotaph

[edit] Cenotaph

The Cenotaph, situated in the centre of the Cenotaph Hall, is the central focus of the monument. In addition to being viewable from the Hall of Heroes it can also be seen from the dome at the top of the building, from where the whole interior of the monument can be viewed. Through an opening in this dome the sun shines at twelve o'clock on 16 December each year onto the middle of the Cenotaph and the words 'Ons vir Jou, Suid-Afrika' (Afrikaans for 'We for Thee, South Africa'). The ray of sunshine is said to symbolise God's blessing on the lives and endeavours of the Voortrekkers. December 16, 1838 was the date of the Battle of Blood River, commemorated in Apartheid-era South Africa as the Day of the Vow.

The Cenotaph Hall is decorated with the flags of the different Voortrekker Republics and contains wall tapestries depicting the Voortrekkers as well as several display cases with artefacts from the Great Trek. Against the northern wall of the hall is a nave with a lantern in which a flame has been kept burning ever since 1938. It was in that year that the Symbolic Ox Wagon Trek, which started in Cape Town and ended at Monument Hill where the Monument's foundation stone was laid, took place.

The Laager

[edit] Other

Visitors to the monument enter through a black wrought iron gate with an assegai (spear) motif.

After passing through the gate one finds oneself inside a big laager consisting of 64 ox-wagons made out of decorative granite. The same number of wagons were used at the Battle of Blood River to form the laager.

Voortrekker Vrou

Statue of Piet Retief

At the foot of the Monument stands Anton van Wouw's bronze sculpture of a Voortrekker woman and her two children, paying homage to the strength and courage of the Voortrekker women. On both sides of this sculpture black wildebeest are chiselled into the walls of the Monument. The wildebeest symbolically depicts the dangers of Africa and their symbolic flight implies that the woman, carrier of Western civilisation, is triumphant.

On each outside corner of the Monument there is a statue, respectively representing Piet Retief, Andries Pretorius, Hendrik Potgieter and an "unknown" leader (representative of all the other Voortrekker leaders). Each statue weighs approximately 6 tons.

At the eastern corner of the monument, on the same level as its entrance, is the foundation stone.

[edit] Monument complex

In the years following its construction, the monument complex was expanded several times and now includes:

An indigenous garden that surrounds the monument.
Fort Schanskop, a nearby fort built in 1897 by the government of the South African Republic after the Jameson Raid and now a museum.
The Schanskop open-air amphitheatre with seating for 357 people that was officially opened on 30 January 2001.
A garden of remembrance.
A nature reserve was declared on 3.41 km² around the Monument in 1992. Game found on the reserve include Zebras, Blesbuck, Mountain Reedbuck, Springbuck and Impala.