Genadendal [χəˈnɑːdəndal] is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, built on the site of the oldest mission station in the country.

[4][5] Genadendal (Valley of Grace) is approximately 90 minutes drive east of Cape Town in the Riviersonderend Mountains, in the Overberg region.

It was founded by George Schmidt, a German missionary of the Moravian Church, who settled on 23 April 1738 in Baviaanskloof (Ravine of the Baboons) in the Riviersonderend Valley and began to evangelise among the Khoi people.

[7][8] The Moravian Church (originated in 1457 in Moravia, today part of the Czech Republic) had a particular zeal for mission work.

He taught the Khoi to read and write, but when he began to baptise his converts there was great dissatisfaction among the Cape Dutch Reformed Church clergy.

[10] A letter from Count Nicolaus Zinzendorf (who was a Moravian bishop) had arrived giving him permission to baptise his followers.

[12] On Christmas Eve in 1792, Christian Kühnel, Daniel Schwinn and Henrik Marsveld, three Moravian missionaries, arrived at Baviaanskloof and were shown the ruins of Schmidt's house and the hamlet in which no one lived anymore.

[17] Importantly though, they were not able to put up a church as they did not have the required permit from the Dutch East India Company (VOC), and it did not seem that they would be granted one anytime soon.

The houses in the village were built of clay, some still in the shape of a bee-hive (matjieshuis) with an opening on the top for smoke, while others were square with a thatched roof.

And in 1806 in the midst of the second British occupation becoming permanent, Baviaanskloof was renamed Genadendal (Valley of Grace) by the missionaries.

The aim of the project was to bring to the students resources that will help them not only understand the history of Genadendal but also to equip them with tools to research historical topics.

[24] The students did excavations at Kühnel house, learnt to survey one of the old cottages on Berg Street and explored the Khoi history and origins of the region.