About Pretoria

Pretoria is South Africa's administrative capital and the seat of the executive branch of government, its Union Buildings overlooking the city from Meintjieskop with sweeping gardens that host presidential inaugurations. Founded in 1855 and named for Boer leader Andries Pretorius, the city is also called Tshwane, the name of the wider metropolitan municipality that now encompasses it. Each October its streets and gardens turn purple with jacaranda blossom, a spectacle so associated with the city that Pretoria is nicknamed the Jacaranda City. It is home to the University of Pretoria and a cluster of research and government institutions, giving it a quieter, more institutional character than neighbouring Johannesburg, roughly 50 kilometres to the south.

Pretoria's spring calendar runs deep across sport and the arts, with 568 qualifying listings on the books. Hazeldean Valley Trails hosts the Valley of Grace Trail Run this week, while the Musaion at the University of Pretoria stages the classical programme From Vienna to the New World. Wilge Teater answers with Propvolfees, and the South African State Theatre closes out a run of Motlhana Double Bill: Inkungu. The Fairtree Atterbury Theatre keeps its own stage busy too, with Jak de Priester by die Fairtree Atterbury Teater.