Voortrekker Monument

The monument was designed by architect Gerard Moerdijk and inaugurated on 16 December 1949, on the 111th anniversary of the Battle of Blood River. Its 40-metre cube is built from yellow granite quarried near Pretoria, and its position was carefully chosen so that on every 16 December a beam of sunlight falls precisely on the cenotaph in the basement bearing the words ‘Ons vir jou, Suid-Afrika’ (‘We for thee, South Africa’).

Inside the Hall of Heroes, a 92-metre marble frieze — the longest of its kind in the world — depicts 27 scenes from the Great Trek, from the decision to leave the Cape through to the signing of the Sand River Convention. Carved by four sculptors over eight years, the frieze is a fascinating piece of mid-20th-century Afrikaner nationalist art and a primary source for the way the trek was being interpreted in the lead-up to apartheid.

The cenotaph hall in the basement and the dome above it open onto a 360-degree viewing gallery reached by 169 steps (or a small lift). The view stretches across the whole of Tshwane, from the Union Buildings to the south to the Magaliesberg in the north — one of the most complete city panoramas in the country.

The surrounding 340-hectare nature reserve is open to visitors with a self-drive game route featuring zebra, impala, blesbok and giraffe, and several picnic areas. The Heritage Centre next to the monument has rotating exhibitions, a wagon museum and a coffee shop overlooking the city.

Practical info: open daily from 08:00 to 17:00 in summer and 08:00 to 16:30 in winter. Entry is around R150 per adult and R100 per child. The monument is a 15-minute drive from central Pretoria and is included on every Wanderer Pretoria Day Tour, paired with the Union Buildings, Church Square and a drive through the jacaranda-lined embassy quarter.