South Africa 2024 Trip Day 1, Part 5: A Visit to Church Square, Pretoria (Afrikaans: Kerkplein), Pretoria (September 26)

   

This was a picture (which I have since cropped) of the new South Africa flag of the post-apartheid era. I actually took this one at the apartheid museum, as this was the final display, if you will, of the museum, the symbol of the emergence of a "new South Africa."

Right after visiting the Vootrekker Monument, we went to downtown Pretoria. We passed by (but did not stop in to visit) the Kruger House. Then, we went to Church Square, which used to be the center of this once proud Afrikaner town, with government buildings and a statue of Paul Kruger right in the middle of the square. 

But it did not look or feel quite how I had always imagined it when seeing pictures of this place back during my childhood.

One of Pretoria's gems

My guide said that Pretoria used to be the Afrikaner city. It was their cultural and historical hub,  if you will. 

However,  things have changed. Downtown Pretoria has few Afrikaners left. The official name of the city has changed. 

But the monuments remain.

In parts of the city,  you can see what how it used to be. 

Yet, you are simultaneously reminded, in almost every way, that this is not how things are any longer here. 

Perhaps the most obvious place where this reality is illustrated is Church Square. It has some handsome buildings surrounding it, and used to be the very center of Afrikanerdom, if you will. These were the government buildings when this city was the capital of Transvaal (which translates to "beyond the vaal"), one of the two Boer Republics. The whole city might have been a source of Afrikaner pride, but this square is arguably the most historical center for Afrikaners in the entire country.

The Ou Raadsaal (English: Old Council Hall) is a historic building in Pretoria, South Africa, located on the south side of Church Square. The Ou Raadsaal housed the Volksraad, the parliament of the South African Republic, from 1891 to 1902.[1]

The Palace of Justice forms part of the northern façade of Church Square in Pretoria. The building dates to the nineteenth century and was designed by the Dutch architect Sytze Wierda. It is currently the headquarters of the Gauteng Division of the High Court of South Africa.  The foundation stone was laid on June 8, 1897 by South African Republic (ZAR) President Paul Kruger.[1]

The square's most prominent feature, since June 1954, is the statue of the late Boer leader and president of the South African Republic, Paul Kruger, at its centre.[2] Statues of four anonymous Boer citizen-soldiers surround that of Kruger on a lower level of the plinth.