Statue halo

The sun forming a halo on the head of the Dutch Language Monument in the Eastern Cape town of Burgersdorp.  Would have been awesome if the statue was an angel, but alas she doesn't have wings.

Burgersdorp churches

When I drive into a small town I've never been to, the first thing I always do is scan the horizon to see where the local church is.  Just about every small town has a beautiful historic church.  The first one is the Dutch Reformed Church (completed in 1849), but I'm not too sure right now about the second one. It could be the Christ Church which was built in 1861.

The congregation of Burgersdorp was founded in 1846. The name 'Burgers' was to honour the farmers(burgers) who brought Christianity to this area.  In 1847, 75 stands were sold by public auction and the first nine streets, 2 squares and an area for the church were demarcated by plough and oxen.

Burgersdorp Dutch Language Monuments

Driving through the town of Burgersdorp in the Eastern Cape, visitors will pass a park called Burger Square with a collection of monuments in it.  One of the monuments (actually two, but if you keep on reading you will understand) is a monument to the Dutch language which is mainly out of what the Afrikaans language developed.  The statue, made from Carrara marble and built in Italy, was originally erected in 1893 in honour of equal rights of Dutch and English to be used in the Colonial Parliament.

The original statue was damaged and removed from its base in 1901 by British Troops during the Anglo Boar War.  After the war the British Government was pressured by the inhabitants of Burgersdorp to pay for a replica to be made to replace the missing one.  The new monument was unveiled in 1907.  The original monument was found, minus the head, buried in King William's Town in 1939.  It was brought back and erected next to the new monument where it stands today.