The Voortrekker Monument is a granite fortress on Monument Hill south of Pretoria, built to commemorate the Afrikaner settlers (Voortrekkers) who left the Cape Colony in the 1830s and 1840s to escape British rule. It is one of the most powerfully realised pieces of commemorative architecture in Africa, and a loaded one — built at the height of Apartheid and inseparable from that history. It remains one of the most visited sites in Pretoria.
The exterior walls are surrounded by a laager of carved wagons in stone — the defensive circle the Voortrekkers used on the march — and the interior features a famous frieze of 27 marble panels depicting the Great Trek from beginning to end. The basement museum presents the Voortrekker perspective honestly but without the critical context an outside observer might want. The dome at the top offers views across the city. Whatever your response to the politics, the building is extraordinary.