Paardekraal Monument Krugersdorp, Gauteng Architect: DEPARTEMENT VAN PUBLIEKE WERKEN - ZUID-AFRIKAANSCHE REPUBLIEK Design Architect: Sytze Wopkes WIERDA

View across lawns Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker 2007

Date: 1891 Type: Monument Status: Extant

Coordinates: 26°05'36.85" S 27°46'43.56" E

Notes: In the Krugersdorp museum there is a small model of it as well as an information sheet. The info sheet reads: During December 1880, under the leadership of the "threemanship", Paul Kruger, Piet Joubert and MW Pretorius, approximately 6,000 burgers decided to reinstitute the "Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek" and as a symbol of their unity built a cairn and rejected the British reign. During 1881 the ZAR was restored after the battle of Majuba and 16 December 1881 the "Volksraad" decided on having a festival for the the nation at Paardekraal to commemorate their independence. MPW Pretorius donated the terrain to the then government and in 1889 under the impetus of Magistrate Human a decision was taken to erect a monument over the cairn. A monument was designed by the state's architect S. Wierda and built by WV Vietch. On 16 December 1891 it was officially unveiled by Pres. Paul Kruger 1891. The cairn was removed in 1900 on the instruction of the British Authorities and thrown in the Vaal River. It was declared a National Monument in 1936. On the terrain, but to the south of the monument, ox-drawn wagon cart's wheels have been cast in concrete. (Submitted by Derek Walker via William Martinson, October 2021) The Paardekraal Monument was declared a National Monument in 1936, and is a Provincial Heritage Site today. See SAHRIS.

References:

Oblique view Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker - 2012 View from below Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker 2007 Lancet arch in base of monument Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker 2007 Detail of balcony below memorial stones Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker 2007 Memorial stone Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker 2007 Memorial stone Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker 2007 Memorial stone Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker 2007 Commemorative stone below arch Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker 2007 Commemorative stone Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker 2007 Commemorative stone Submitted by William Martinson Photographer: Derek Walker 2007

Front elevation Source: Men of the Times: Old Colonists of the Cape Colony and Orange River Colony, 1906: 459 Submitted by Lila Komnick Photographer: Unidentified