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South African cultural organisations

www.AfricanAdvice.com ~ The only South African local business directory which ranks businesses only by their user ratings suggests various art organisations on the whole African continent.

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  • Afrikaans Language Museum - Paarl
  • Alan Paton Centre - Pietermaritzburg, museum, archive, aims to promote the struggle for improved human relations
  • Albany Museum - Grahamstown
  • Anglo Boer War Museum - Bloemfontein
  • Apartheid Museum - Johannesburg
  • Bertram House Museum - Cape Town, nineteenth-century Georgian town house, furnished dining room, drawing room, study. Georgian furniture, Chinese and English porcelain as well as English silver and kitchenware are displayed.
  • Bo-Kaap Museum - Cape Town, built in the 1760s and situated in the historic residential Bo-Kaap area of Cape Town, aspects of Cape Muslim culture.
  • Bolus Herbarium - University of Cape Town, Botany Department.
  • Burgerhuis - Stellenbosch, private dwelling, built in 1797 by Antonie Fick, the grandson of a German immigrant, it is a good example of the famous Cape Dutch style of architecture, elegant living in17th and 18th centuries.
  • Calvinia Regional Museum - Calvinia, Hantam life during the early years and is accommodated in the old synagogue.
  • Cape Town Holocaust Centre - Cape Town, text and photo panels, archival documents and film footage, multimedia displays, artefacts and recreated environments
  • Cape Town Museums Online - Cape Town, history
  • Coin World
  • De Beers Museum - Kimberley
  • Design Museum - Cape Town, major design movements from 1990s to the present.
  • De Oude Drostdy Museum, Tulbagh, built in 1806, early Cape furniture and household articles, collection of old gramophones.
  • District Six Museum - Cape Town, to ensure that the history and the memory of forced removals in South Africa endures, symbol of reconciliation
  • Duggan-Cronin Gallery - Kimberly, contains about 8000 negatives and photographic prints of different tribes taken by Duggan-Cronin, artefacts, including beadwork, costumes, pottery, iron tools and woodcarvings.
  • Dunluce - Kimberly, built at the end of the 19th century and from 1902 it was the residence of the merchant John Orr.
  • Durban Museums - Durban
  • Durban Local History Museum - Durban
  • Durban Natural Science Museum - Durban, earth history, life on earth, both past and present.
  • Erfurthuis - Stellenbosch, gentleman’s residence in 1875 it is now the headquarters of the Stellenbosch Museum
  • Fort Selwyn - Grahamstown, Fort Selwyn on Gunfire Hill overlooking Grahamstown and named after Captain (later major) Charles Jasper Selwyn of the Cape Corps of Royal Engineers, was responsible for the design and construction, was stationed in the Eastern Cape from 1834 to 1842.
  • Freedom Park - Pretoria
  • Geology Education Museum - University of Natal, Durban
  • Groot Constantia Manor House & Wine Museum - Cape Town
  • Groot Constantia Wine Museum - Groot Constantia is one of the oldest wine estates, Cape Dutch architecture, wine making equipment, storage and drinking vessels.
  • Heidelberg Motor Museum - Heidelberg, in the old railway station and goods sheds with displays of bicycles, motorcycles, sport cars, racing cars, veteran and vintage cars and motoring accessories, animal drawn vehicles, fire fighting equipment, prams and pedal cars.
  • History Museum - Grahamstown, houses three art galleries, three cultural history galleries and the research and curatorial staff offices.
  • Huguenot Memorial Museum
  • Irma Stern Museum - Cape Town, in Irma Stern's Cape Town home, the Studio with the artist's paint brushes, palettes and paint-box, untouched since her death, is the focal point of the house, collections include Egyptain and early Greek artefacts, Buddist art, Chinese ceramics, pre-Columbain masks, European church carvings dating from the 14th Century, Coptic weavings
  • Iziko Museums of Cape Town (Southern Flagship Institutions), fifteen museums and sites, each with it's own history and character, reflects the cultural diversity of Cape Town.
  • Kalahari-Oranje Regional Museum - Uppington. The Museum is housed in buildings erected by the Reverend Schröder in 1875 as a church and mission station. Domestic items dating from that era and articles relating to the history of Upington and the Lower Orange River are on display.
  • King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth - South African art (particularly that of the Eastern Cape), British art, international printmaking and Oriental art (including Indian miniatures and Chinese textiles).
  • Koopmans-de Wet House - Cape Towndating from the early eighteenth century, this museum is furnished as a lived-in house of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
  • Kruger House Museum - Pretoria
  • Kwa Muhle Museum. Few people know that pre-1949 apartheid was first planned and implemented in Durban. Today you can walk around the elegant Moorish-style building, with wide central courtyard, where its implementation began: the restored ‘Bantu Administration’ offices, once the administrative nerve-centre of an infamous system of labour control, is now a historic monument presenting an integrated history of the city.
  • Lichtenburg Museums & Art Gallery
  • Magersfontein Battlefield, Kimberly, battle re-enactment
  • Marvol Museum, Kuilsriver. The Museum is committed to popularising Russian Art and Culture in South Africa
  • Mayibuye Centre
  • Melrose House - Johannesburg
  • McGregor Museum, Kimberly - literally offers you everything from A (Archaeology to Z (Zoology).
  • Michaelis Collection - Cape Town
  • MuseumAfrica - also houses the Museum of Rock Art and Geological Museum
  • Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of South Africa (UNISA). The history and pre-history of Southern Africa.
  • Museum of the Council of Geoscience
  • Nasionale Afrikaanse Letterkundige Museum en Navavorsingsentrum (NALN) ~ Bloemfontein
  • Natal Museum, Pietermaritzburg. The ever-changing tapestry of South Africa and Kwa-Zulu Natal's cultural record is portrayed in the exhibitions on display at the Natal Museum.
  • Natale-Labia Collection - Cape Town. Temporary exhibitions ranging from jewellery to miniature interiors, from art glass to fine art are presented quarterly
  • Natural Sciences Museum, Grahamstown
  • National Cultural History Museum (NCHM) - Pretoria
  • National English Literary Museum, Grahamstown. The Museum collects and conserves material evidence pertaining to South African literatureand provides all sections of the reading public, both locally and abroad, with the means of access to it.
  • National Museum, Bloemfontein. Main attractions: The world-famous Florisbad skull (estimated to be 250 000 years old); the only complete skeleton of Euskelosaurus (one of the earliest known dinosaurs) in the world; a "working" beehive; live snakes and other reptiles in the new Herpetology Hall; Victorian Bloemfontein street scene.
  • Nelson Mandela Museum - Umtata
  • Northern Flagship Institutions - Pretoria
  • Observatory Museum, Grahamstown, a unique multi-storeyed 19th century Victorian shop and home with the only Camera Obscura built in South Africa.
  • Old Court House Museum, Durban’s first double-storey building, and her first court-house, is now the flagship of Durban Metro Local History Museums. Here the development of the city and region before the 20th century is documented, with emphasis on leading historical figures and on reconstructions of 19th century life.
  • Old House, Durban, Among the first properties pegged out was a half-acre that ran down to the Bay's mangrove swamps where John Goodricke (who became Mayor, 1858-9) built his bungalow.
  • Olive Schreiner House & Grave, Cradock
  • Old Slave Lodge, built in 1679, served as a lodge for the slaves of the Dutch East India Company.
  • Owl House, Nieu-Bethesda. Helen Martins lay ill in bed one night, with the moon shining in through the window, and considered how dull and grey her life had become. She resolved, there and then, that she would strive to bring light and colour into her life. That simple decision, to embellish her environment, was to grow into an obsessive urge to express her deepest feelings, her dreams and her desires.
  • Paarl Museum - history of Paarl.
  • Pioneer Museum - Pretoria
  • Pioneers of Aviation Museum, Kimberly, on the site of the continent's first flying school comprises a symbolic memorial, a reconstruction of the hangar and a replica of the Compton Paterson Biplane used flight training. It commemorates the role played by early aviators in establishing the South African Air Force of today.
  • Planetarium Museum - Cape Town
  • Port Natal Maritime Museum, Durban, Those who've never been aboard a ship can go below decks and explore three restored 'floating exhibits' - the coal-fuelled steam tug, Ulundi (1927), oldest surviving pilot tug in a South African harbour; another tug, the JR More (1961), one of the last of her kind; and a mahogany-hulled coastal minesweeper, the SAS Durban (1957). There are also displays reflecting the city’s nautical origin and heritage.
  • Port Elizabeth Museum Complex - Humewood, Port Elizabeth
  • Provost Prison was built by the Royal Engineers to a design based on Jeremy Bentham's eighteenth century panopticon system for the "ceaseless surveillance" of prisoners and was completed in 1838.
  • Rembrandt Van Rijn Art Gallery, Stellenbosch. Also in Afrikaans. The Foundation's main objective is to as its main objective to stimulate the appreciation of South African art and to introduce the work of eminent international artists to the general public.
  • Robben Island Museum - Cape Town, national museum and national monument seen as a symbol of political resistance, of courage and human dignity in the face of terrible suffering. The limestone quarry and the tiny cell where Nelson Mandela spent nearly 19 years are two of the main places of interest to tourists.
  • Roodepoort Museum, Roodepoort. The Museum covers local history, the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand and the development of Roodepoort from mining camp to city.
  • Rudd House, home of the mine magnate H P Rudd.
  • Rust en Vreugd Museum - Cape Town Pictorial Africana of the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries housed in the finest surviving example of an 18th century Cape Dutch townhouse.
  • Sammy Marks Museum Pretoria, pioneer house (1848) and historic farmyard.
  • SAS Somerset - Cape Town
  • Schreiner House, Cradock. Life and works of the famous South African writer and feminist, Olive Schreiner, who lived here from 1867-70.
  • Sea World Education Centre, Durban. The Discovery Room gives visitors an opportunity to ask questions, touch living marine animals and view microscopic marine life on a large monitor.
  • Selmar Schonland Herbarium , Grahamstown. Incorporating the Albany Museum Herbarium (GRA) and the Rhodes University Herbarium (RUH). The herbarium houses just under 200 000 plant specimens, making it the 4th largest herbarium in South Africa and the 9th largest on the whole African continent.
  • Simon's Town Museum, Simon's Town. The Museum collects and exhibits the cultural history of the people of Simon’s Town and their connections with the Dutch East India Company and the Royal Navy.
  • Slave Lodge - Cape Town
  • Sol Plaatje House - Kimberley
  • South African Airways Museum Society, South African Airforce Museum, Swartkop airforce base, near Pretoria. Lodestar, Dove and DC 6 and display hall.
  • South African Air Force Museum, Port Elizabeth. The Museum houses an interesting and varied collection of exhibits covering the full period of the SAAF's existence
  • South African Air Force Museum, Pretoria. It is the largest military aviation museum in South Africa. Exhibits include a variety of aircraft and missiles, as well as family-orientated and historically interesting aeronautical displays.
  • South African Air Force Museum, Cape Town. It is the second largest military aviation museum in South Africa. The Museum houses an interesting and varied collection of exhibits covering the full period of the SAAF's existence and it's operational activities as well military and civil aviation in the Cape. In addition to aircraft, weapons, engines, uniforms, etc, is a small display of Royal Flying Corps memorabilia.
  • South Africa Cultural History Museum - Cape Town
  • South African Jewish Museum ~ Cape Town, explores the social, intellectual and cultural contributions made by South Africa's Jewish community
  • South African Maritime Museum ~ Cape Town, non-profit organisation dedicated to the preservation of South Africa's Maritime Heritage.
  • South African Museum - Cape Town For the general visitor, the essence of the Museum is found in the great diversity of specimens on exhibition. Popular exhibits include the only specimen in Africa of the extinct quagga and the spectacular Whale Well.
  • South African National Museum of Military History, Johannesburg. Displays of artifacts relating to South Africa's military heritage and the development of South African military technology.
  • South African National Gallery - Cape Town
  • Standard Bank Gallery. Dedicated to the promotion of the visual arts and crafts of South Africa the gallery also has displays from the African Art Collection. The collection, permanently housed at the University of the Witwatersrand Art Galleries, began more than 20 years ago, long before it was fashionable to collect African art, to preserve for posterity the material culture of the various peoples in southern, western and central Africa.
  • Stellenbosch Museum - collects, restores, displays and interprets artefacts and publishes articles and books on subjects which relate to the history of the District of Stellenbosch.
  • Stellenryck Wijn Museum, Stellenbosch.
  • Township Lwandle Museum, Lwandle. In English and German. Migrant Labour Museum & Arts & Crafts Centre.
  • Toy and Miniature Museum, Stellenbosch. A collection of 1:12 scale miniatures, room boxes, miniature houses, antique dolls, a model railway-layout and other toys.
  • Transport Museum - Kimberley
  • Transvaal Museum, Natural History and Archaeozoology.
  • Tswaing (Soutpan), Soshanguve. The only crater museum and the first community-centred enviro-museum in South Africa.
  • University of the Witwatersrand Museums, Johannesburg
  • University of Pretoria Museums, Pretoria
  • University Museum incorporating the Sasol Art Museum and the University of Stellenbosch Art Gallery. Also in Afrikaans. Exhibitions of contemporary art by South African artists and art students.
  • Victoria West Regional Museum. The Museum has two halls - the B.J. Kempen Hall (Fossil Hall), covering the prehistory and natural history of the Karoo, and the Cultural History Hall, depicting the history of Victoria West, its people and environs.
  • Village Museum, Stellenbosch. A site Museum comprising four historic houses and their gardens, each representing a different period in the architectural development of Stellenbosch. Houses, interiors and gardens have been restored, furnished and planted to illustrate the particular style and taste of the time.
  • VOC Kruithuis, Stellenbosch. The only surviving powder magazine (1777) in Southern Africa, built by the Dutch East India Company at the Cape. It bears the Cape cypher of the VOC and contains VOC memorabilia, flintlocks, swords, cannon and other items.
  • Voortrekker Monument Museum, Pretoria
  • Wellington Museum, Wellington. The Museum features the cultures of various African ethnic groups.
  • Westcoast Fossil Park - Langebaan
  • Willem Prinsloo Agricultural Museum (WPAM) - Pretoria
  • Wonderwerk Cave, Kimberly, archaeological research at this massive cave site has revealed an immensely long record of human and environmental history spanning hundreds of thousands of years
  • Worcester Museum

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{Tanya Pretorius' Bookmarks: South Africa, South African cultural organisations}


 
 

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