About THE MEMORIAL
AN ENDURING MESSAGE
Although the name of the Memorial has changed, it has lost none of its power to speak to us of courage, the horrors of war, and our hopes that we can live in peace with our neighbours and other nations.
Some 20m high, the Memorial consists of four interlocked stone arches. Its design is said to have been inspired by the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris, and it is reached by following tree-lined avenues from each of four directions.
A TROUBLED PAST
The creation of the Memorial was proposed as long ago as 1904, but it took a decade for these original plans to be realised. In that time, the world changed almost beyond recognition – and nations found themselves on the brink of the First World War (a conflict into which South Africa would also be dragged).
THE GREAT AND THE GOOD
The story of the funding and design of the Memorial involves many famous names from the early days of the city, including Boer War veteran Captain George A Hamilton-Dickson (whose idea the Memorial was) and Randlord Sir Lionel Phillips and his indomitable wife, Florence. It was Phillips’ company which gave the site of the Memorial to the city.
Ultimately, it was decided that the Memorial should only commemorate the British soldiers who had died in the war, leading to Afrikaners dismissing the Memorial as “die Kakiemonument”. The original budget was £25 000 – a very significant sum in those days – and the cornerstone was laid in 1910 by Field Marshall the Duke of Connaught.
“A triumphant archway, square in plan, with a lower arch at each flank, the whole surmounted by a flattened dome supporting a bronze figure…”
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
Sir Herbert Baker was ruled out as the architect because of his work on the Union Buildings in Pretoria. Instead, the British architect Edwin Landseer Lutyens was chosen. He would go on to become famous as the “architect of the British Empire” and later designed many other war memorials, including the Cenotaph in London. He was paid £500 for designing the Memorial, which was built in such a way that the interior is lit up by a beam of sunshine.
(Lutyens also designed the Johannesburg Art Gallery, or JAG, as part of a separate but linked commission).
IN MEMORIAM
Above the main arches of the Memorial, the following inscription can be seen engraved into the stone: TO THE MEN OF RAND REGIMENTS WHO FELL IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN WAR 1899 – 1902 and, as originally conceived, was intended to honour the officers and men from the eight Rand Regiments who died in the war. These eight regiments were Bethune’s Mounted Infantry, the Commander-in-Chief’s bodyguard, the Johannesburg Mounted Rifles, the Railway Pioneer Regiment, the Rand Rifles, the South African Light Horse, Thornycroft’s Mounted Infantry and the Imperial Light Horse, whose name lives on as the Light Horse Regiment.
REDEDICATION
In 1999, the Memorial was rededicated in “memory of the men, women and children of all races and all nations who lost their lives in the Anglo-Boer War, 1899–1902”. It is estimated that some 22 000 British soldiers, 7 000 Boers, 24 000 black men, women and children, and 22 000 white women and children died during the war or in concentration camps – they are all now commemorated by the Memorial.THE ANGEL OF PEACE
The famous sculpture on top of the Memorial was cast in bronze in Paris by Naoum Aronson, an admirer of renowned sculptor Auguste Rodin. She was placed on top of the orb on the Memorial in May 1914. s