In 1880 he established the De Beers Mining Company, 8
years later formed De Beers Consolidated Mines and later Consolidated Gold
Fields of South Africa operating in the Witwatersrand.
Rhodes was Prime Minister of the Cape from 1890 until
he resigned on 5 January 1896.
The Memorial sits below Devil's Peak on the Groote Schuur Estate, Rondebosch, where Rhodes placed a wooden seat from which he could look out to Table Bay in the north, False Bay in the south and the Hottentots Holland Mountains in the east.
The building of the memorial, designed by Herbert Baker,
began in 1906 and was only officially dedicated to Rhodes on 5th
July 1912.
The memorial has a temple like form and was designed with out a specific function, except to inspire heroic thought and patriotic emotion from those who visit the memorial. The memorial is a stage set in beautiful scenery and reflects the beliefs and aspirations of greatness of Cecil Rhodes. Eight bronze lions, the king of beasts, line the steps leading to the temple symbolising Rhodes. The steps have no regard for human needs but are designed on a monumental scale. The memorial temple was built in Cape granite quarried from Table Mountain.

FIGURE 1: Rhodes
Memorial. (www.travelandtranscendence.com/
SouthafricaA/images/005.jpg)
Displayed on the terrace of the memorial is a
sculpture ‘Physical Energy’ designed by George Frederick Watt for the memorial.
JM Swan sculpted the eight lions and an uncompleted bust sculpture of Cecil
Rhodes, above this sculpture within the temple is the inscription: "To the
Spirit and Life Work of Cecil John Rhodes who loved and served South
Africa" (www.rondebosch.co.za
)

FIGURE 2: Physical
Energy. FIGURE
3: Bronze Lions. (www.rondebosch.co.za/) (www.rondebosch.co.za/)
FIGURE 4: Bust of Cecil John Rhodes (www.travelandtranscendence.com/ SouthafricaA/images/28.jpg)
RESOURCES
KEATH, M. Herbert Baker: Architecture and Idealism 1892-1913 The South African Years. Gibraltar: Ashanti Publishers.