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Church Square, Pretoria

Buildings and structures in PretoriaHistory of PretoriaSquares in South AfricaTourist attractions in PretoriaUse South African English from June 2014
Church Square
Church Square

Church Square (Afrikaans: Kerkplein), originally Market Square (Dutch: Marktplein), is the square at the historic centre of the city of Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa. The founder of Pretoria, Marthinus Pretorius, determined that the square be used as a market place and church yard. It was subsequently named for the church buildings that stood at the centre of the square from 1856 to 1905. 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. Statues of four anonymous Boer citizen-soldiers surround that of Kruger on a lower level of the plinth.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Church Square, Pretoria (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Church Square, Pretoria
Church Square, Pretoria Tshwane Ward 58

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N -25.7465 ° E 28.1882 °
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Paul Kruger Statue

Church Square
0126 Pretoria, Tshwane Ward 58
Gauteng, South Africa
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Church Square
Church Square
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Ou Raadsaal
Ou Raadsaal

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.The Ou Raadsaal was commissioned in the late 19th century by the South African Republic as the new seat of government in Pretoria, and was designed by Dutch architect Sytze Wierda in a Renaissance Revival style. The contract for construction was granted to John Johnstone Kirkness, a builder from the Orkney Islands with a prolific building career in the region, at a sum of £82,500. Construction began in February 1889 with the cornerstone laid by President Paul Kruger on 6 May that year, and the work was completed in December 1891. The Transvaal Museum was established in 1892 in the upper floor of Ou Raadsaal, but was soon moved to a separate location when the room was deemed too small for the collection. In 1902, the South African Republic was annexed by the United Kingdom after its defeat in the Second Boer War, abolishing the Volksraad, and the Ou Raadsaal became vacant. In 1999, the Ou Raadsaal was declared a Provincial Heritage Site and is protected in terms of Section 34 of the National Heritage Resources Act (Act 25 of 1999), as it is over 60 years old. The building is also known in English as the Old Council Chamber or Old Government Building, and in Afrikaans as the Republikeinse Raadsaal.