Museum sights in South Africa
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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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District Six Museum
If you visit only one museum in Cape Town make it this one. As much for the people of the now-vanished District Six as it is about them, this is a hugely moving and informative exhibition, and most township tours stop here to explain the history of the pass laws. Reconstructions of home interiors, photographs, recordings and testimonials build up an evocative picture of a shattered but not entirely broken community. The staff each have a heartbreaking story to tell. There’s also an excellent new annexe in the Sacks Futeran Building a couple of blocks away. Speak to staff about arranging a walking tour of the old District Six, for a minimum of 10 people.
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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 ment…
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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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Voortrekker Monument & Nature Reserve
A visit to the striking Voortrekker Monument is a near spiritual experience for many Afrikaners. It was constructed between 1938 and 1949 – a time of great Afrikaner nationalism – to honour the journey of the Voortrekkers, who trekked north over the coastal mountains of the Cape into the heart of the African veld. It pays tribute in particular to the Battle of Blood River on 16 December 1838, during which 470 Boers, under the command of Andries Pretorius, defeated approximately 12,000 Zulus, killing many of them.
A visit to the striking Voortrekker Monument is a near spiritual experience for many Afrikaners. It was constructed between 1938 and 1949 – a time of great A…
reviewed
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Irma Stern Museum
The pioneering 20th-century artist Irma Stern (1894–1966) lived in this house for almost 40 years and her studio has been left virtually intact, as if she’d just stepped out into the verdant garden for a breath of fresh air. Her ethnographic art-and-craft collection from around the world is as fascinating as her own expressionist art, which has been compared favourably to Gauguin’s. To reach the museum from Rosebank station, walk a few minutes west to Main Rd, cross over and walk up Chapel St.
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South African Jewish Museum
The fascinating history of Jews in South Africa is recorded in this imaginatively designed museum, incorporating the beautifully restored Old Synagogue (1863). Downstairs you’ll find a partial re-creation of a Lithuanian shtetl (village); many of South Africa’s Jews fled this part of Eastern Europe during the pogroms and persecution of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There’s also a computerised system where you can trace Jewish relations in South Africa, and excellent temporary exhibitions. Across the courtyard from the museum’s exit is a good gift shop and the kosher Café Riteve. Within the complex it’s also possible to visit the beautifully decorated Great Syn…
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Transvaal Museum
Opposite City Hall, this grand museum is a good place to go if you’re interested in natural history. Outside the building are the museum’s most impressive exhibits – giant replica skeletons of an enormous whale and a dinosaur. Inside you’ll find a series of fascinating exhibits including menacing reptile displays, the reconstructed jaws of a giant extinct shark, plenty of life-size mammal statues, and a rather creepy hall full of stuffed birds. The Insect Hall includes live displays of weed-eating grasshoppers and giant hissing cockroaches, and there’s a geological section with a collection of precious and semiprecious stones.
There’s plenty of interesting info …
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Transplant Museum
Capetonians are very proud that their city was the first place in the world where a successful heart transplant operation was carried out (never mind that the recipient died a few days later). This museum allows you to see the very theatre in Groote Schuur Hospital where history was made in 1967. The displays have a fascinating Dr Kildare quality to them, especially given the heart-throb status of Dr Christiaan Barnard at the time.
To reach the hospital from Observatory Train Station, walk west along Station Rd for about 10 minutes. If you're driving from the city, take the Eastern Blvd (N2) turn-off at Browning Rd, and then turn right on Main Rd.
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Heart of Cape Town Museum
Capetonians are very proud that their city was the first place in the world where a successful heart transplant operation was carried out (never mind that the recipient died a few days later). This museum allows you to see the very theatre in Groote Schuur Hospital where history was made in 1967. The displays have a fascinating Dr Kildare quality to them, especially given the heartthrob status of Dr Christiaan Barnard at the time. To reach the hospital from Observatory Train Station, walk west along Station Rd for about 10 minutes. If you’re driving from the city, take the Eastern Blvd (N2) turn-off at Browning Rd, and then turn right on Main Rd.
reviewed
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Msunduzi Museum
The Msunduzi Museum, formerly known as the Voortrekker Museum, is a complex incorporating the Church of the Vow, the home of Andries Pretorius, a Voortrekker house and a girls’ school, the museum’s administrative building. The Church of the Vow was built in 1841 to fulfil the Voortrekkers’ promise to God at the Battle of Blood River. The words of the Vow are in the Modern Memorial Church, located next door. More recently, history has been rewritten; the museum has had a name change and heralds itself as a multicultural institution, incorporating Zulu and Indian displays.
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KwaMuhle Museum
The excellent KwaMuhle Museum is a must-see for those interested in understanding South Africa. This was formerly Bantu Administration headquarters, where Durban’s colonial authorities formulated the structures of urban racial segregation (the ‘Durban System’), the blueprints of South Africa’s apartheid policy. There are powerful displays on urban Durban as it was, plus another on Cato Manor, Durban’s contemporary informal settlement and the site of the new South Africa’s ambitious urban-renewal program.
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Chavonnes Battery Museum
This excellent interpretative museum houses the remains of Cape Town’s oldest cannon battery outside of the Castle of Good Hope, dating from 1726. Although they had been partly demolished and built over during the construction of the docks in 1860, an excavation of the site in 1999 revealed the remains. You can walk around the entire site and get a good feel for what it would have originally been like. It’s also staffed by costumed enthusiasts who sometimes like to shoot off a real cannon in front of the museum on Sunday at noon.
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Gold of Africa Museum
A third of the world’s gold is produced in South Africa. In this glitzy museum, based in historic Martin Melck House (dating from 1783) and established by Anglogold, the biggest gold-mining company in the world, gorgeous gold jewellery from across the continent is displayed. There are some stunning pieces, mostly from West Africa, with lots of background information. The shop is worth a browse for interesting gold souvenirs, including copies of some of the pieces in the museum, and you can sign up for jewellery design courses (from R770) at the onsite workshop. It’s worth returning in the evening for the good Gold restaurant.
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Heritage Museum
Simon’s Town’s community of Cape Muslims was 7000 strong before apartheid forcibly removed most of them, mainly to the suburb of Ocean’s View across on the Atlantic side of the peninsula. This interesting small museum, dedicated to the evictees and based in Almay House (dating from 1858), is enthusiastically curated by Zainab Davidson, whose family was kicked out in 1975. Nearby Alfred Lane leads to the handsome mosque, built in 1926.
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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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Old Courthouse Museum
The Old Courthouse Museum is in the beautiful 1866 courthouse behind the City Hall. It offers a worthwhile insight into the highs and lows of colonial living and houses an interesting sugar-mill exhibit. Among the wonderful displays of colonial items – from pipes to necklaces – there’s a display of corresponding Zulu items; identifying them is especially fun for kids (and some adults, too).
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National Cultural History Museum
Concentrating on the cultural history of South Africa, the National Cultural History Museum is dedicated to preserving the country’s cultural heritage. It features exhibitions on San rock art, Iron Age figurines from Limpopo and a small gallery of contemporary South African works, among others. At the time of writing the museum was developing new exhibits, including an exhibition on Tshwane.
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Simon’s Town Museum
Housed in the old governor’s residence (1777), the exhibits in this rambling museum trace Simon’s Town’s history. Included is a display on Just Nuisance, the Great Dane that was adopted as a navy mascot in WWII, and whose grave, off Red Hill Rd above the town, makes for a long walk from the harbour. There’s also a statue of Just Nuisance in Jubilee Sq, by the harbour.
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Nelson Mandela Gateway
Tours of Robben Island depart from the Nelson Mandela Gateway beside the Clock Tower at the Waterfront. Even if you don’t plan a visit to the island, it’s worth dropping by the museum here, with its focus on the struggle for equality. Also preserved as a small museum is the Waterfront’s Jetty 1, the departure point for Robben Island when it was a prison.
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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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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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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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Iziko Maritime Centre
This small museum, stocked with model ships, houses the John H Marsh Maritime Research Centre, a resource for those interested in South Africa’s maritime history. The main exhibition is about the ill-fated voyage of the Mendi, which sank in the English Channel in 1917 taking 607 black troops to a watery grave.
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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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