Paardekraal Monument, Historical monument in Krugersdorp, South Africa.
The Paardekraal Monument stands on Paardekraalstraat in Krugersdorp, a stone memorial built in 1890 to the design of State Architect Sytze Wierda and completed in November that year. It was raised over the original cairn of stones piled up by Boer burgers in December 1880, enclosing that heap within the official structure.
The monument commemorates the gathering of Transvaal Boers on December 13, 1880, when they pledged to resist British rule. After the Second Boer War, British forces under Lord Roberts removed the original stones from beneath it in 1901.
The site hosts the annual Geloftefees, a vow festival held every year, with five-yearly larger gatherings revived in 1946. In 2001 a memorial wall was added, inscribed with the motto "Ons sal handhaaf, ons sal opbou" (We shall maintain, we shall build up), and in 2002 the Volkskomitee handed the Paardekraal Feeskommissie a commemorative stone for it.
The monument stands on Paardekraalstraat in Krugersdorp, not in the city centre, so plan transport to that street rather than the central grid. The site is an outdoor structure; visiting in daylight lets you read the memorial wall added in 2001, which carries the motto "Ons sal handhaaf, ons sal opbou".
The cairn of stones placed by the Boers in December 1880 was removed in June 1901 on the orders of Lord Roberts and thrown into the Vaal River under the railway bridge at Vereeniging. The monument now encloses nothing of that original pile.
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