Inauguration of the Voortrekker Monument Pretoria, December 13 to 16, 1949

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The Inauguration of the Voortrekker Monument Pretoria, December 13 to 16, 1949 was a huge public celebration mounted at the site of the Monument (often in the Amphitheatre) by the Voortrekker Monument Inauguration Committee.

The English version of the "Official Programme[1] for the Inauguration of the Voortrekker Monument Pretoria, December 13 to 16, 1949, lists a number of performances and theatrical events - various ceremonial events, parades, tableaus, historical enactments, musical presentations, and so on, over the course of the four days.

(For full details see the programme[2]).


Among the theatrical events presented:


15 December: Seven scenes - from a work by Deur Stryd tot Oorwinning ("Through Struggle to Visctory"), a text by Adèle Jooste - were performed by various amateur companies as historical tableaus in the Amphitheatre of the Voortrekker Monument. The pieces mentioned are: 'n Voortrekker Troue ("A Voortrekker Marriage"), and Aankoms van die Hugenote aan die Kaap ("Arrival of the Huguenots at the Cape"), Retief se Tog na Dingaan (Retief’s Journey to Dingaan), Die 1880-periode (The 1880 Period), Die Routoneel, 1901 (The Scene of Mourning, 1901), Unie, 1910 (Union, 1910) and Die Hede, 1949 (The Present, 1949).