Nobel Square - V&A Waterfront,
Cape Town

The idea of Nobel Square is to honour South Africa's four Nobel Peace Prize Laureates for the role they played in achieving peace and democracy. Each one at a different time in history.

The sculptures in the V&A Waterfront, stand in the form of a crescent with Table Mountain in the background.

They are slightly larger than life-size and have each individual's preferred quotations engraved in their chosen language in front of the sculptures.

The four Laureates are:

Albert John Lutuli (1898 – 21 July 1967), was a South African teacher and politician. Lutuli was elected president of the African National Congress (ANC), at the time an umbrella organisation that led opposition to the white minority government in South Africa.

When he was awarded the 1960 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the non-violent struggle against apartheid, he was the first African, and the first person from outside Europe and the Americas, to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Nobel Square page.

Albert Lithuli (1960)

Desmond Mpilo Tutu (born 7 October 1931) is a South African activist and retired Anglican bishop who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid. He was the first black South African Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa, and primate of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa).

Tutu has been active in the defense of human rights and uses his high profile to campaign for the oppressed. He has campaigned to fight AIDS, tuberculosis, poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia.

Tutu received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984; the Albert Schweitzer Prize for Humanitarianism in 1986; the Pacem in Terris Award in 1987; the Sydney Peace Prize in 1999; the Gandhi Peace Prize in 2005; and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.

Nobel Square page.

Desmond Tutu (1984)

Frederik Willem de Klerk, known as FW de Klerk, (born 18 March 1936), was the seventh and last State President of the apartheid-era South Africa, serving from September 1989 to May 1994. De Klerk was also leader of the National Party from February 1989 to September 1997.

De Klerk is best known for engineering the end of apartheid, and supporting the transformation of South Africa into a multi-racial democracy by entering into the negotiations that resulted in all citizens, including the country's black majority, having equal voting and other rights.

He won the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize in 1991, the Prince of Asturias Award in 1992 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 along with Nelson Mandela for his role in the ending of apartheid.

He was one of the Deputy Presidents of South Africa during the presidency of Nelson Mandela until 1996, the last white person to hold the position to date. In 1997 he retired from politics.

FW de Klerk (1993)

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (born 18 July 1918) is a South African politician who served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, the first ever to be elected in a fully representative democratic election.

Before being elected President, Mandela was a militant anti-apartheid activist, and the leader and co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC).

In 1962 he was arrested and convicted of sabotage and other charges, and sentenced to life imprisonment. Mandela went on to serve 27 years in prison, spending many of these years on Robben Island.

Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to the establishment of democracy in 1994. As President, he frequently gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality in South Africa.

In South Africa, Mandela is often known as Madiba, his Xhosa clan name; or as tata (Xhosa: father) Mandela has received more than 250 awards over four decades, including the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.

Nobel Square page.

Nelson Mandela (1993)

The Peace and Democracy sculpture, also found on Nobel Square, is a narrative work acknowledging the contribution of women and children to the attainment of peace in South Africa.

All five sculptures are cast in bronze and stand on a granite area of 386 square meters.

Biography source: wikipedia.org

Other attractions in the Waterfront

• Visit the Two Oceans Aquarium and watch fish in their natural habitat and see sharks hand fed by divers.
• At the Nelson Mandela Gateway you can take a tour to Robben Island. The Gateway has a restaurant and a museum conveying the island's history.
• See Cape Town’s 2'nd oldest major fortification, The Chavonnes Battery Museum.
• Enjoy the performances of the buskersSit down and chill - enjoy the sights, sounds and smells!
• See the earliest existing model of Table Bay harbour and a collection of ship models at The Maritime Centre.
• Learn more about diamonds at the Diamond Museum

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