The 250th anniversary of the settlement of the Huguenots at the Cape was celebrated in 1938. The monument commemorates the event and expresses the descendants’ gratitude for their religious freedom.
The building of the Huguenot monument was started in Franschhoek in 1942. The architect was JC Jongens, a young Dutch immigrant. It was completed in 1945 at a cost of £22 000 and inaugurated on 17 April 1948. Coert Steynberg sculpted the central statue of a young Huguenot woman who personifies religious freedom.
The monument’s elegant simplicity gives it a classical character. Its spirit of freedom resonates with the sacrifices made by other groups in their search for religious and political freedom.
