The Voortrekker Monument stands on a hilltop just south of Pretoria, South Africa. Gerard Moerdijk was the architect. The Sentrale Volksmonumentekomitee, formed in 1931, commissioned it. Construction began on July 13, 1937, and Prime Minister D. F. Malan inaugurated it on December 16, 1949. The cost was about 360,000 pounds.
The structure is granite on a base of 130 feet (40 meters) by 130 feet. A historical frieze of 27 marble bas-relief panels depicts the Great Trek. Bronze sculpture is by Anton van Wouw. Entry leads through a laager of 64 granite ox-wagons. A cenotaph is the focus of the Cenotaph Hall.
Each year at noon on December 16, a ray of sunlight through the dome falls on the cenotaph's inscription. A flame has burned there since 1938. The monument became a National Heritage Site on July 8, 2011.
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