Abstract:
They came in their thousands to
pay homage, with many eventually being
turned away. As Nelson Rolihlahla
Mandela (1918–2013) lay in state, the
significance and meaning of the Union
Buildings seemed yet again to evolve.
On the eve of his inauguration as the
country’s first democratically elected
president nearly 20 years before, the
Union Buildings, washed in electric
light, the amphitheatre set up with
raked seating for the dignitaries right
into the columned hemicycle loggia
and decked out with new South African
flags, made it all seem that this was the
very moment for which these buildings
had been intended.
