Old Arts Building

A watercolour, originally signed and titled in Afrikaans, Ou-Lettere gebou (Old Arts Building) by the South African artist Anne Manduell (b.1935). The work shows the Old Arts Building in 1962, that todays houses the University of Pretoria Museums. Manduell’s artwork of the Old Arts Building includes the beginnings of the Rautenbach Fountain in front of the Building and a small cannon flanked by flag poles. From 1 May 1950 to 1 January 1960 the UP had an artillery battery (1 Observation or P Battery) on campus. This became the University of Pretoria Regiment from 1960 to 1975. In the early 1960s, the regiment was housed in the Old Arts Building before it moved later in the 1960s. The small cannon was made as a replica of the famous Ras-Cannon which was used during the 1938 Battle of Blood River. The cannon was later donated to the Brits Commando in 1989 when the UP-Military unit closed. The watercolour depicts the garden landscape surrounding the building at the time, flanked by two tall trees.