The Rhodes Memorial on Devil's Peak in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

, is a memorial to the English-born South African politician

Cecil John Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Brit ...

(1853–1902). The memorial was designed by the renowned architect,

Sir Herbert Baker Sir Herbert Baker (9 June 1862 – 4 February 1946) was an English architect remembered as the dominant force in South African architecture for two decades, and a major designer of some of New Delhi's most notable government structures. He ...

Location

The memorial is situated at Rhodes's favourite spot on the lower slopes of Devil's Peak. Rhodes's own wooden bench is still situated below the memorial. The view facing north-east can be imagined as the start of the

Cape to Cairo Road The Cape to Cairo Road or Pan-African Highway, sometimes called the Great North Road in sub-Saharan Africa, was a proposed road that would stretch the length of Africa, from Cape Town to Cairo, through the Cape to Cairo Red Line of British c ...

and Rhodes's dream of a "red line" of British dominions spanning the continents north to its south. Rhodes owned vast areas of the lower slopes of Table Mountain, most of which he gave to the nation on his death. Part of his estate was used for the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

upper campus, part is now the

Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden Kirstenbosch is an important botanical garden nestled at the eastern foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town. The garden is one of 10 National Botanical Gardens covering five of South Africa's six different biomes and administered by the South A ...

, while much else of it was spared from development.

Architecture

The architect, Sir Herbert Baker, allegedly modelled the memorial after the Greek temple at Segesta although it is actually closer to the temple of

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...

in design. It consists of a massive staircase with 49 steps (one for each year of Rhodes's life) leading from a semi-circular terrace up to a rectangular U-shaped monument formed of pillars. The memorial is built of Cape granite quarried on Table Mountain. At the bottom of the steps is a bronze statue of a horseman, '' Physical Energy'' by George Frederic Watts. Eight bronze lions by

John Macallan Swan John Macallan Swan (9 December 1846 – 14 February 1910) was an English painter and sculptor. Biography Swan was born in Brentford, Middlesex, on 9 December 1846. He received his art training first in England at the Worcester and Lambeth sc ...

flank the steps leading up to the memorial, with a bust of Rhodes (also by JM Swan). The inscription on the monument is "To the spirit and life work of Cecil John Rhodes who loved and served South Africa." Inscribed below the bust of Rhodes are the last four lines of the last stanza from the 1902 poem ''Burial'' by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)'' The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

in honour of Rhodes: : The immense and brooding spirit still : Shall quicken and control. : Living he was the land, and dead, : His soul shall be her soul! The monument was completed and dedicated in 1912. A memorial proposed by the Colonial Secretary

Earl Grey Earl Grey is a title in the peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1806 for General Charles Grey, 1st Baron Grey. In 1801, he was given the title Baron Grey of Howick in the County of Northumberland, and in 1806 he was created Viscou ...

never materialised: a massive "colossus of Rhodes" statue overlooking Cape Town from the summit of Lion's Head, rather like the statue of Christ overlooking

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

Outdoor activities

Today the memorial is part of the

Table Mountain National Park Table Mountain National Park, previously known as the Cape Peninsula National Park, is a national park in Cape Town, South Africa, proclaimed on 29 May 1998, for the purpose of protecting the natural environment of the Table Mountain Chain, an ...

. There is a well-known tea room behind the memorial, and it is a popular viewpoint and picnicking spot which is frequented by students from the University of Cape Town (UCT) as well as Cape Town residents and also tourists. It is also a starting point for walking and hiking on Devil's Peak. Around the memorial are groves of oaks and stone pines from Europe, and there are also a few remaining pockets of the original Afromontane forest nearby. Just up the slope from Rhodes Memorial there is a small forest of a famous native tree called the Silvertree. Table Mountain is possibly the only place on earth where this majestic tree grows wild and Rhodes Memorial has one of the last surviving stands. Alien

fallow deer ''Dama'' is a genus of deer in the subfamily Cervinae, commonly referred to as fallow deer. Name The name fallow is derived from the deer's pale brown colour. The Latin word ''dāma'' or ''damma'', used for roe deer, gazelles, and antelopes ...

used to live in the area, although they are now being eliminated to make way for the re-introduction of indigenous antelope species. Below the memorial is a game enclosure where eland, zebra and wildebeest are kept. Rhodes Memorial is not generally used for events but does host occasional performances, an annual Easter sunrise service, and is often used as a location for filming. For safety reasons, the area is closed from sunset to sunrise.

The area around the memorial

Not far below the memorial are the University of Cape Town (UCT),

Groote Schuur Hospital Groote Schuur Hospital is a large, government-funded, teaching hospital situated on the slopes of Devil's Peak in the city of Cape Town, South Africa. It was founded in 1938 and is famous for being the institution where the first human-to-huma ...

and

Mostert's Mill Mostert's Mill (Afrikaans: ''Mostert se Meul'') is a historic windmill in Mowbray, Cape Town, South Africa. It was built in 1796 and was the oldest surviving complete windmill in South Africa. It was gutted in a wildfire on 18 April 2021. The fi ...

. Above the memorial is the King's Blockhouse, and not far away is the

Groote Schuur Zoo The Groote Schuur Zoo was a zoo in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1931 at the request of deceased Cecil Rhodes, it was free of charge and a very popular attraction in Cape Town until its closure sometime between 1975 and 1985. The zoo ...

site, originally established as Rhodes's private zoo. The zoo was closed in the late 1970s, and only the lion's den now remains. Rhodes's

Groote Schuur Groote Schuur (, Dutch for "big shed") is an estate in Cape Town, South Africa. In 1657, the estate was owned by the Dutch East India Company which used it partly as a granary. Later, the farm and farmhouse was sold into private hands. Groote Sc ...

estate nearby is now a South African presidential residence. A statue of Rhodes was situated on the UCT campus, on the lower part of Sarah Baartman Hall steps overlooking the university's rugby fields. This statue had become the focus of protests in March 2015 calling for its removal. It has now been permanently removed. The area around the memorial was affected by the Table Mountain fire in 2021, and the visitor's cafe was burnt down.

Vandalism

In September 2015, the bronze bust of Rhodes at the memorial was vandalised. The nose was cut off and the memorial was daubed with graffiti accusing Rhodes of being a "Racist, thief, ndmurderer." It appeared that the vandals had attempted to cut off the whole head. The nose was later restored by a local artist and historian. In July 2020, the bust was decapitated. The head was recovered nearby and reattached on Heritage Day later that year.

Controversy of the memorial

The Rhodes Memorial is in post-Apartheid South Africa a controversial site due to the political impact

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Bri ...

historically had in the formation of an inequal system. Some are of the opinion that

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their reli ...

and

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

are part of the history of South Africa and that the Rhodes Memorial therefore is appropriate. Another view on the matter is that, due to the impact the colonialism has had on forming the inequal society that is South Africa today, these kinds of memorials are inappropriate. There are also several other movements ongoing that are addressing issues on this topic, like discussions about monuments and statues in the UK and Europe that promoted colonialism and imperialism, and the Black Life Matters movement. Another point of view in this debate accepts the problematic signal that these kinds of monuments hold but argues that keeping them in the public light is preferable so that they can be critically interrogated on a regular basis. The controversy around Cecil Rhodes monuments was addressed by the Rhodes Must Fall movement, a series of student protests, that eventually lead to the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes at the

campus. Many of the same arguments are brought up in the discussion of the memorial, as well as for other monuments and statues of Rhodes in Southern Africa. These point at how the letting such memorials stay in the public space gives significance to, and continues the promotions of, the ideas that Rhodes him selves promoted, like the

elitism Elitism is the belief or notion that individuals who form an elite—a select group of people perceived as having an intrinsic quality, high intellect, wealth, power, notability, special skills, or experience—are more likely to be construc ...

of the white population and the economical and geographical distribution and ownership .The students of South Africa, through the Rhodes Must Fall movement, expressed how they did not accept the insensitivities that these kind of monuments gives presence to. The issue of symbolic representation in the South African context is an important topic in the decolonial and post-apartheid society. With Rhodes using his political power to re-distribute land from black Africans through the Glen Grey Act and at the same time increasing the limit of economic wealth needed for having the right to vote though the

Franchise and Ballot Act The Franchise and Ballot Act (1892) was an act of the Cape Colony Parliament, driven by Prime Minister Cecil Rhodes, which raised the property franchise qualification, thus disenfranchising a large proportion of the Cape's non-white voters, and ...

, he was a large contributor to the inequality that sill perpetuates the South African country today. These political decisions were made in the Parliament of Cape, and therefore the Rhodes Memorial, and other monuments in the area, is a constant reminder of the sort of power that was being performed in Cape Town at the time. Currently there are efforts to transform the society of South Africa to make up for some of the inequal politics that the apartheid regime and colonialism has inflicted upon the country, like the

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultura ...

. The controversies around monuments like this symbolic representation of Rhodes power reflects the question concerning if there is need for recognition and erasure of the same historical political power on a symbolic level, as well as in the politics of the rights themselves. The vandalism on the memorial in 2015 and 2020 is thought to be a result of the controversy and protests against legacies of colonialism and imperialism.

References

External links

Photograph of Rhodes Memorial during construction
{{Cape Town, history Buildings and structures completed in 1912 Monuments and memorials in South Africa British Empire Herbert Baker buildings and structures Tourist attractions in Cape Town Buildings and structures in Cape Town Articles containing video clips 1912 establishments in South Africa Cultural depictions of Cecil Rhodes Vandalized works of art