ERFENISPRET
KRUGER DEATH ROOM ON DISPLAY AT THE KRUGER GALLERY
The Kruger Gallery located at the Voortrekker Monument boasts with a new exhibition, Paul Kruger’s Death Room. The death room was set up for the 120th anniversary of former president Paul Kruger’s (1925–1904) death in Switzerland and was officially opened on Friday 12 July 2024.
After the Peace Treaty was signed, bringing an end to the Anglo-Boer War (1899–1902), Paul Kruger left the country as an exile in search of support for the Boer Republics abroad. He set out on a sea voyage from Lourenço Marques (Maputo, Mozambique), followed by a visit to the Netherlands, Marseilles in France and finally Switzerland, where he died of pneumonia on 14 July 1904.
In 1910, the room in Villa Kruger, aka the Kruger House in Clarens, Switzerland, where Paul Kruger died, was run as an informal museum. On 10 October 1949, Dr DF Malan, former prime minister, announced that the Swiss death home had been offered for sale to the South African government. The FAK was involved in launching nationwide fundraisers. The money was raised in record time and the house was bought on 27 February 1950 and transferred to the FAK in 1951.
The South African Embassy in Bern maintained the Kruger House on behalf of the FAK and the South African government and appointed staff and caretakers. Shortly before the 1994 elections, the cabinet approved the sale of Villa Kruger, except that the death room was given as a servitude to the FAK for 25 years so that the room could be retained as a memorial. The Villa Kruger Trust always maintained the easement.
In 2021 the easement expired, and the current owner indicated that Villa Kruger would be sold as a private residence. However, the owner agreed to send the existing contents of the death room to the FAK.
Dr Danie Langner, managing director of the FAK, Voortrekker Monument and Heritage Foundation, explains why it is so appropriate for the death room to find a home at the Voortrekker Monument: “It makes sense for the FAK that it should be at the Voortrekker Monument, precisely because Paul Kruger as a young boy was involved in the Battle of Vegkop.”
The Kruger Gallery is furnished with several artworks and objects about the Anglo-Boer War, which add context to the exhibition. The gallery boasts fourteen paintings of Anglo-Boer War generals, and role players during the war and battles. There are eight busts, including the JH de la Rey bust that was heavily damaged in a fire at the Ampie Bosman Museum in Lichtenburg in 2022. Three models of Danie de Jager are also on display, namely the Philosopher, Farewell and Piet and Hendriena Joubert. The original Ras cannon, produced by Martinus Ras in 1881, also has a special place within the Kruger Gallery.
VISIT THE KRUGER DEATH ROOM EXHIBITION IN THE KRUGER-GALERY