The Voortrekker Monument is a monument that is situated in the city of Pretoria, South Africa. The massive granite structure, built to honour the Voortrekkers (Pioneers) who left the Cape Colony in their thousands between 1835 and 1854, was designed by the architect Gerard Moerdijk who had the ideal to design a "monument that would stand a thousands of years to describe the history and the meaning of the Great Trek to its descendants". It can be seen from almost any location in the city, where it is seated on top of a hill.