Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens

Description

The Oppenheimer Memorial Gardens, situated in Kimberley in the Northern Cape, commemorate the founder of the global Anglo American Corporation. Sir Ernest Oppenheimer, whose bust stands proud in a marble colonnade set into the gardens, was a diamond buyer who founded the corporation in 1917. He was also a mayor of the municipality of the city of Kimberley; when Beaconsfield and Kimberley where made into one city in 1912.

The garden’s most striking feature is the statue of the 5 bronze miners which surrounds the Digger’s Fountain. This is also known as the miners’ memorial which was built to honour the past and present diggers of the Kimberley mine. Sir Ernest Oppenheimer’s torso stands proudly in a marble colonnade in the gardens which overlooks the fountain and the rose garden. Each of the 5 figures represents one of Kimberley's 5 big diamond mines, namely Kimberley Mine, De Beers Mine, Bultfontein Mine, du Toitspan Mine, and Wesselton Mine.