Sights in Johannesburg
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Apartheid Museum
The Apartheid Museum, which illustrates the rise and fall of South Africa’s era of segregation and oppression, is an absolute must-see. With plenty of attention to detail and an unsparing emphasis on the inhuman philosophy of apartheid – visitors are handed a card stating their race when they arrive and are required to enter the exhibit through their allotted gate – this remains one of South Africa’s most evocative museums. The museum uses film, text, audio and live accounts to provide a chilling insight into the architecture and implementation of the apartheid system, as well as inspiring accounts of the struggle towards democracy, and is invaluable in understanding the …
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Museum Africa
Situated at the heart of the cultural precinct, Museum Africa is housed in the impressive old Bree St fruit market, next to the Market Theatre complex. The most interesting exhibition details the Treason Trials of 1956–61, which featured most of the important figures in the ‘new’ South Africa. The Sophiatown display is also outstanding, containing a mock up of a shebeen (unlicensed bar) as well as audio and music snippets. Other exhibits tell the story of Jo’burg from the Stone Age onwards, the development of South African music and the history of housing in the city. On the same site is the Bensusan Museum of Photography.
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Turbine Hall
Much of the area around Mary Fitzgerald Sq was once taken up by a giant power station. The huge Turbine Hall, next to SAB World of Beer, is one of the city’s more impressive buildings. The north boiler house was imploded in 2005 and now houses the impressive headquarters of AngloGold Ashanti, beautifully developed to blend in with existing architecture. The south boiler house remains empty but is used for some wonderfully creative events. The area is now known as Turbine Sq.
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Telkom Tower
Dominated by the 269m Telkom Tower, Hillbrow was once among the liveliest and most interesting suburbs in the city and was the nation’s first ‘Grey Area’ – a zone where blacks and whites could live side by side. These days, however, it also has a reputation for very real lawlessness and a trip into its guts, without an extremely savvy guide, is not recommended.
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Johannesburg Zoo
The Johannesburg Zoo has a good selection of fierce and furry critters. The Animal Mythbuster tour (R45) is good fun; take it at night (R70) and it includes snacks and fireside marshmallow-toasting.
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University of the Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, more commonly known as Wits (pronounced vits) University, dominates the quiet suburb of Braamfontein. Wits University is the largest English-language university in the country, with more than 20,000 students. Worth a look here are the Gertrude Posel Gallery; Jan Smuts House to see Smuts’ study; and the Planetarium, which you can look around for free, or attend shows on Friday (8pm), Saturday (3pm) and Sunday (4pm).
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Planetarium
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Gertrude Posel Gallery
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SAB World of Beer
The SAB World of Beer offers a ridiculously good-value 90-minute jaunt through the history of beer, as narrated on video by hokey characters including a Bavarian brew master, an Egyptian explorer and Charles Glass, the founder of Castle breweries. On your journey through the beer-making process you’ll wander through a fake Egyptian temple, taste chibuku in a mock African village and sample a cheeky half pint at a re-created Victorian pub. If that weren’t enough your ticket also includes two pints in the bar afterwards.
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Montecasino
Jo’burg’s answer to Las Vegas, Montecasino, a shopping and entertainment centre based around (surprise) a large casino, is cheese personified. It includes a recreated Tuscan village complete with an artificial early-evening sky, fake trees, cobbled pavements, hilltop towers and even a vintage Fiat. It also includes the Pieter Toerien Theatre and the earthy Montecasino Bird Gardens, where you can get a blast of country air in the heart of the city.
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Hector Pieterson Memorial
North of Vilakazi St is Soweto's showcase, Hector Pieterson Sq. Named after the 13-year-old who was shot dead in the run-up to the Soweto uprising , the square now features the poignant Hector Pieterson Memorial and the excellent Hector Pieterson Museum, which offers an insight into Sowetan life and the history of the independence struggle. From the square, a line of shrubs leads up Moema St to the site where he was shot outside the school.
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Johannesburg Art Gallery
On the Noord St side of Joubert Park (itself a no-go area) is the Johannesburg Art Gallery. This place has a reputable collection of European and South African landscape and figurative paintings, as well as a significant contemporary South African collection with more adventurous work such as multimedia installations. It also hosts large-scale, dynamic exhibitions and retrospectives of black artists.
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Origins Centre
Braamfontein’s big hitter is the new Origins Centre, which explores the African origins of humankind through interactive exhibits. There are some particularly beautiful displays on the cultural history of the San tribe and you can also even ask for a DNA test to trace your ancestral heritage. A second phase of the museum is dedicated to prehistoric life and South Africa’s fossil wealth.
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Nelson Mandela Bridge
Looming over Newtown is the Nelson Mandela Bridge. Officially opened by Nelson Mandela on 20 July 2003 (two days after his 85th birthday), the 295m, cable-stayed bridge is the longest of its kind in Southern Africa. It isn't the most impressive structure in Jo'burg, but it is an enduring symbol of efforts to resurrect long-forgotten sections of the city and an ongoing source of pride.
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Mandela Museum
The first stop on most tours is the Mandela Museum, just off Vilakazi St. Nelson Mandela shared this tiny home with his first wife, Evelyn, and it is filled with fascinating photographs and clutter. Among the exhibits is a letter from the State of Michigan asking George Bush Senior to apologise for the role the CIA played in Mandela's 1962 arrest. Needless to say, it never did.
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South African National Museum of Military History
If you’re fascinated by guns, tanks and aircraft, you can see artefacts and implements of destruction from the 1899–1902 Anglo-Boer War through to WWII at the South African National Museum of Military History, one of Jo’burg’s most popular museums. The museum is at the eastern end of the grounds of the zoo.
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Regina Mundi Church
Down Klipspruit Valley Rd is the Regina Mundi Church, which, as a community meeting place, was central to the struggle against apartheid. The police often retaliated and you can still see bullet holes in the ceiling to the right of the main altar. The right-hand 'community' altar rail is also chipped from where the butt of a police rifle smashed it.
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Drum Café
South of the cultural precinct, you will find the refurbished Bus Factory, which includes several outlets selling art and crafts from around Southern Africa as well as homewares, jewellery and other products by young designers. The on-site Drum Café has a free drum museum and stages regular drumming events.
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Bus Factory
South of the cultural precinct, you will find the refurbished Bus Factory, which includes several outlets selling art and crafts from around Southern Africa as well as homewares, jewellery and other products by young designers. The on-site Drum Café has a free drum museum and stages regular drumming events.
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Workers’ Museum
In the restored Electricity Department’s compound you’ll find the Workers’ Museum. It was built in 1910 for 300-plus municipal workers and has been declared a national monument. There is a Workers’ Library, a resource centre and a display of the living conditions of migrant workers.
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Liliesleaf Farm
Liliesleaf Farm, the secret headquarters of the African National Congress (ANC) during the 1960s, reopened as a museum in June 2008. It tells the story of South Africa’s liberation struggle through a series of high-tech, interactive exhibits.
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Standard Bank Art Gallery
The Standard Bank Art Gallery is a wonderfully light building featuring regularly changing exhibitions by important South African artists. It also has a permanent African art collection, some of which is on display at Wits University.
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Constitution Hill
Inspiring Constitution Hill is one of the city’s most important attractions. It sits at the edge of Hillbrow, and with any luck the court and surrounding developments will help reverse the suburb’s fortunes.
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Sci-Bono Discovery Centre
In the Electric Workshop building, you’ll find the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre. This kid-friendly centre includes a science museum and is a hands-on, interactive learning experience.
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Mandela & Tambo Law Offices
You might also like to pass by the former Mandela & Tambo Law Offices building where, in the 1950s, these two famous men set up this pioneering law firm.
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