Nelson Mandela Square
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Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. Formerly known as Sandton Square, it was renamed Nelson Mandela Square on 31 March 2004 after a 6-metre statue of Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...
was installed on the square to honour the former South African president. It is attached to the large Sandton City
Sandton City
Sandton City is a shopping centre located in Sandton, Johannesburg that was built as pioneer centre in 1973.-Redevelopment:Liberty Properties announced in 2008 that Sandton City would receive a R1.77 billion upgrade...
shopping centre.
The statue which was sculpted by Kobus Hattingh and Jacob Maponyane weighs 2.5 tons and measures 2.3 metres from elbow to elbow.The shoulders of the statue are 1.7 metres in width and the shoes are 1 metre in length.
The renaming celebration and the unveiling of the statue was to mark the 10th anniversary of the complex, and also commemorates the first decade of democracy in South Africa.