MEMORIALS

Isivivane Memorial Park or Freedom Park

Type: Physical memorial
Location: Pretoria
Country: South Africa

Added: 3/24/2009
Updated: -

The Isivivane Memorial Park, or Freedom Park, is perhaps Africa´s most ambitious contemporary memorial project. It is due to be built on a 52-hectare site on Salvokop hill outside Pretoria.


Salvokop hill, where Freedom Park is under construction, is located opposite the Voortrekker Monument to juxtapose the past with the processes of moving forward. This incorporation of the Voortrekkers acknowledges a reality of our history that cannot be ignored. Rather it illustrates the contrast that can help us to reconstruct our country. The Voortrekker Monument commemorates a battle that the Voortrekkers won against the Zulus on the banks of the Ncome River (‘Bloedrivier’) in 1838. Land struggles, of which this was a part, form part of the eight conflicts that make up South Africa’s history.

Source: freedompark.co.za

The complex will include a memorial, The Garden of remembrance, a museum and a programme called "Cleansing, Healing and Reparations - Building a Nation".

The Freedom Park Trust therefore, through the facilitation of the Moral Regeneration Movement, linking to the Truth and Reconciliation process, held various ceremonies in the provinces and nationally as a process to cleanse and heal the nation, which further deepens reconciliation in our country and effects the symbolic reparation process. Therefore, the TRC, the Institution of Traditional Healing, the Churches, the Moral Regeneration Movement and the government collectively put their efforts together in cleansing, healing and reconciling our nation.

These structures and their processes unfolded the progression towards the spiritual unification of the South African nation, symbolised in the creation of the Garden of Remembrance.

Source: freedompark.co.za

Freedom Park´s Official Web Site
Design Images at OBRA Architect´s Web Site

PRESS

Urban Green File
Issue 9-2 May/June 2004

"Freedom Park is an ambitious project that will see the development of a dedicated heritage precinct on the Salvokop hill outside Pretoria. Intended as a centre of knowledge it aims to create a deeper understanding of South Africa and all its people through the narration of the country’s pre-colonial, colonial, apartheid and post-apartheid history. It will retell South Africa’s story, to dispel the many myths and prejudices that have concealed its true history and distorted the richness of its cultural heritage."

POSTED BY JON BRUNBERG ON 3/24/2009