Iziko Slave Lodge

This museum, mainly devoted to the history and experience of slaves and their descendants in the Cape, also has artefacts from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and the Far East on the 1st floor.

One of the oldest buildings in South Africa, dating back to 1660, the Slave Lodge has a fascinating history in itself. Until 1811 the building was home, if you could call it that, to as many as 1000 slaves, who lived in damp, insanitary, crowded conditions. Up to 20% died each year. The slaves were bought and sold just around the corner on Spin St.

From the late 18th century the lodge was used as a brothel, a jail for petty criminals and political exiles from Indonesia, and then a mental asylum. In 1811 it became Cape Town’s first post office. Later it became a library, and it was the Cape Supreme Court until 1914. The walls of the original Slave Lodge flank the interior courtyard, where you can find the tombstones of Cape Town’s founder, Jan van Riebeeck, and his wife, Maria de la Queillerie. The tombstones were moved here from Jakarta where Van Riebeeck is buried.