monuments

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Graaff-Reinet town hall and the Victory Peace Angel war memorial

Statues is a bit of a sore point in South Africa at the moment (referring to the Cecil John Rhodes statue at UCT and and and...) but there are some truly special ones out there.  One of these is the War Memorial or "Victory Peace Angel" outside the town hall in the Karoo Heartland town of Graaff-Reinet.About three months after the end of World War One, the Mayor of Graaff-Reinet called a public meeting to discuss the erection of a war memorial. …

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26/03/2015
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The Gideon Scheepers Monument

Most people visiting the Karoo town of Graaff-Reinet take a drive out to the Valley of Desolation to enjoy the magnificent views  of the town and surrounding Karoo plains as well as the very sheer cliffs and unique Dolerite stone columns of the valley.  I wonder how many people have spotted the monument on the left as you pass the dam just after leaving town. The Gideon Scheepers Monument remembers  Commandant Gideon Scheepers who was a Boer scout and commanding officer during the Anglo-Boer War. …

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02/03/2015
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The Flame of Democracy

Constitution Hill is one of Johannesburg's most prominent heritage sites.  It is the home of South Africa's Constitutional Court, the highest court in the country, and is located on the site of a number of prisons dating back to the Apartheid years.  One of these prisons were Number 4 Prison (the other two were the Old Fort and the Women's Jail)  where a lot of awaiting trail prisoners were kept during those years.  Although most of the old prison buildings…

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20/11/2014
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The Norvalspont Concentration Camp Memorial

The Anglo Boer War (1899 - 1902) is one of the big turning points in South Africa's history along with the arrival of Europeans in the country, the Great Trek, the Apartheid years and a new democratic South Africa.  Okay, so the history is about more than just those five turning points but that is what came to my mind just now.  One of the most significant things that happened during the Anglo Boar War was that it was the first time ever that…

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05/11/2014
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Delville Wood Memorial and Table Mountain in the late afternoon

 My quick two day visit to Cape Town for the e-Tourism Africa Summit just wet my appetite for a bit of a Cape holiday again.  Not that I know when I'll get the opportunity but I do know that I need some explore time in the city again.  The three things I would really like to do is a tour of the underground tunnels that run through the city bowl, to hike up Table Mountain via Platteklip Gorge and to do…

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10/09/2014
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Kloof Nek cannons

Over the years the Cape has been occupied by different countries and there was always a threat of an invasion because of the Cape's strategic location.  Because of this a big number of defensive positions have been set up all around the Cape Peninsula from the time that the first European's colonised the area.  One of these can be seen at the top of Kloof Nek.  Two 12 Pounder Guns were placed on Kloof Nek in 1782 by the Dutch East India Company (VOC)…

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08/08/2014
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Karel Landman Monument – the globe off the beaten track

Very few people driving along the R72 coastal route between Port Elizabeth and East London have ever seen or even know of the Karel Landman monument about halfway between Nanaga and Alexandria.  The only indication that there is a monument up the dirt road is a road sign at the turnoff.  A couple of kilometers up the dirt road one stands in awe though of the magnitude of this monument in the shape of a globe.  Its huge... and kinda in…

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05/08/2014
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The East London Multicultural Man

 The East London beachfront has a very interesting looking statue which had me scratching my head when I saw it for the first time.  Multicultural Man is a bronze sculpture created by Italian artist Francesco Perilli.  It depicts a faceless man in the middle of the earth who is trying to unite two meridians, while the other meridians are lifted by doves, the universal symbols of peace. The bronze man himself is three meters high and has been designed to represent…

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28/07/2014
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Dias Statue in Cape Town

Bartholomew Dias was the first European to discover South Africa.  On an expedition looking for a sea way to the East he sailed around the Cape in a storm without knowing it.  On 3 February 1488 he landed in Mossel Bay which he called the Bay of Saint Blaise.  On 12 March they reached the furthest point of the expedition when he anchored at Kwaaihoek near the Bushmans River mouth.  It was here that Dias planted a stone cross (padrao) before…

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24/07/2014
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The Slagtersnek Monument near Cookhouse

Driving along the N10 between Port Elizabeth and Cradock there is a memorial next to the road near the town of Cookhouse.  Driving back from Cradock the other day I decided to stop and have a closer look.  The Slagtersnek Monument remembers the Slagtersnek Rebellion and the subsequent hanging of 5 of the rebels, an event that changed the area forever and possibly had a big role to play in the start of the Great Trek.  The museum in Somerset East has…

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30/05/2014