When you drive up the main road through Graaff-Reinet the magnificent Dutch Reformed Church (Groot Kerk) awaits you at the top of the street. As you drive around the church you find the town’s beautiful Town Hall hiding behind it and perched in the Mayor’s Garden stands a statue of an angel holding a sword.
Three months after the end of the First World War a decision was made to erect a monument in honour of the gallant Graaff-Reinet men who had lost their lives in the war. Mayor H Urquhart called a public meeting and it was decided to erect the monument on the most prominent site in town. The Mayor’s Garden.
Generous donations were received to meet the cost of the memorial and on 7 November 1923 the great bronze figure of the “Victory Peace Angel”, mounted on a high pedestal, was unveiled. The unveiling was done by H.R.H. Prince Arthur of Connaught. The memorial is very striking and one of many angel statues around the world all with a similar meaning.
