The Cecil John Rhodes Statue is a monument erected at

Company's Garden The Company's Garden is the oldest garden in South Africa, a park and heritage site located in central Cape Town. The garden was originally created in the 1650s by the region's first European settlers and provided fertile ground to grow fresh ...

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 ...

. The statue was erected in 1908. It features a full body replica of

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 Br ...

wearing a three-piece suit, standing with his left hand raised and pointing north. It has been compared to the

Jan van Riebeeck Johan Anthoniszoon "Jan" van Riebeeck (21 April 1619 – 18 January 1677) was a Dutch navigator and colonial administrator of the Dutch East India Company. Life Early life Jan van Riebeeck was born in Culemborg, as the son of a surgeon. He ...

statue, which faces south and asserts a different sense of occupation. Despite its size, the present location of the monument in the Company's Garden makes it less significant in comparison to that of

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...

Adderley Street Adderley Street is a street in Cape Town, South Africa. It is considered the main street of the central business district (downtown) of Cape Town. The Christmas lights, night markets, main train station and numerous shops and restaurants and off ...

, a location that had been considered for the placement of the Rhodes statue.

Location

The monument is located in the Company's Garden on a secondary axis of the

Iziko South African Museum The Iziko South African Museum is a South African national museum located in Cape Town. The museum was founded in 1825, the first in the country. It has been on its present site in the Company's Garden since 1897. The museum houses important A ...

. The original plan was to use the statue as a visual landmark at the top of Adderley Street; however, 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 wa ...

objected to the placement of the statue at the top of Adderley Street because of the scale of the statue. His concern was that the statue could have a dwarfing effect on the cathedral or other monuments in the vicinity. Due to a lack of consensus as to where the statue should be placed by Baker and Francis Masey, the statue was placed in the Company's Garden instead of on Adderley Street.

Architecture

The architectural design is described as an expression of imperialist interest in Southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

. It was made of non-orthogonal and roughly hewn sandstone material to symbolise Rhodes' love for the natural environment and his interest in mining, which was the main focus of his industrial interest in South Africa. Some historians and architects argue that the monument is an expression of Rhodes' interest in what was then called

Transvaal Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; af, ...

and the

Orange Free State The Orange Free State ( nl, Oranje Vrijstaat; af, Oranje-Vrystaat;) was an independent Boer sovereign republic under British suzerainty in Southern Africa during the second half of the 19th century, which ceased to exist after it was defeat ...

Life

Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British businessman, mining

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

, and politician in

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 countri ...

. An ardent believer in

British colonialism The British Empire was composed of the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. I ...

, Rhodes was the founder of the southern African territory of

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

, which was named after him in 1895. South Africa's

Rhodes University Rhodes University is a public university, public research university located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape, Makhanda (Grahamstown) in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. It is one of four universities in the province. Established in 1904, ...

is also named after Rhodes. He set up the provisions of the

Rhodes Scholarship The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom. Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...

, which is funded by his estate.

Notes and references

{{Cape Town, culture 1908 sculptures Buildings and structures in Cape Town Monuments and memorials in South Africa Sculptures in South Africa Cultural depictions of Cecil Rhodes

Location

Architecture

Life

See also

Notes and references