Church Square

About this place

The historic square at the heart of Pretoria, set aside by the city's founder as a market and churchyard and named for the churches that stood in its middle from 1856 to 1905, it became the centre of life in South Africa's administrative capital. Since 1954 the square has been dominated by a statue of Paul Kruger, president of the old South African Republic in the nineteenth century, with four Boer soldiers on a lower level of the plinth, surrounded by pigeons and jacaranda trees. Important historic buildings ring the square: the Palace of Justice, where Nelson Mandela and his comrades faced the famous Rivonia Trial in 1963 and 1964, the Old Council Chamber that was the republic's parliament, the General Post Office and the old Capitol Theatre. The square is open and free and the visit is short, but it is a good start to a walk around historic central Pretoria, best done by day with a guide.