Red die Monument Lootjie Kompetisie / Save the Monument Raffle

The Voortrekker Monument is smaller than Napoleon’s grave, the Hotel des Invalides in Paris, much smaller than the Taj Mahal in India and only an eleventh the size of the Völkerschlachtdenkmal in Leipzig. Compared to these buildings the Voortrekker Monument is definitely not one of the biggest monuments in the world; still the architect made a deliberate effort to design a massive and impressive monument.The groundbreaking ceremony took place on 13 July 1937 on Monument Hill. Advocate EG Jansen, chairman of the SVK turned the first sod. The following year the cornerstone was formally laid on 16 December. The cornerstone was laid by Mrs JC Muller (granddaughter of Andries Pretorius), Mrs KF Ackerman (great granddaughter of Hendrik Potgieter) and Mrs JC Preller (great granddaughter of Piet Retief). The Monument was inaugurated eleven years later on 16 December 1949. The total cost to build the Monument was £359,600 of which the State made the biggest contribution. Funds were also collected by means of donations, selling special stamps, commemorative envelopes, souvenirs and publications. A large amphitheatre was also build on the north eastern side of the Monument in 1949 which has seating for about 20 000 people.The visitor walks through a black wrought iron gate with an assegai motif. This suggests the power of Dingane who barred the way to the interior. Then the visitor stands inside a great wagon laager symbolically protecting the Monument. The wagon laager consists out of 64 wagons made of artistic granite. During the Battle of Blood River 64 wagons were used to draw the laager. The wagon laager is therefore symbolic of protecting the Monument – by implication protecting the Afrikaner and his culture against attacks. At the foot of the Monument, inside the wagon laager, stands a bronze statue of a Voortrekker woman and her two children. The sculptor was Anton van Wouw. The sculpture commemorates the courage of the Voortrekker women and the Voortrekker family who made the Great Trek and the eventual settlement of the interior possible. Without their contribution the Great Trek might have ended up being an exploration expedition because the Voortrekkers immigrated in the fullest sense of the word with house and home to a new fatherland. On both sides of the sculpture black wildebeest are chiselled against the wall – symbolic of the dangers of Africa. Their outward attitude implies that the woman, carrier of western civilization, triumphs.