Reformation Landscape

Abstract

The Berlin Mission Station, Botshabelo, situated nearby the town of Middelburg in Mpumalanga presents a multi-cultural landscape that is emblematic of the complex questions facing heritage sites in South Africa today. Botshabelo mission station is a historically, physically and culturally layered landscape with a shared heritage and an assemblage of narratives. The following dissertation examines the two cultures that influenced the establishment of the mission station, namely the local African cultures and the German missionaries of the 19th Century, and their relationship with the landscape. The embedded layers of meaning and heritage within Botshabelo’s landscape relating to these cultures were translated into a contemporary landscape design with the aim of reviving the neglected historic site.