Cape Town’s most popular Museums

Air Force Museum

 

Located in an active SAAF airfield, it offers a look at history as well as some contemporary tools. Visiting the main hangar is possible only on weekends.

A: Ysterplaat military base.

Open Wed to Fri 7:00 – 15:00 and Sat 8:30 – 12:00.

All visitors must produce identification document.

 

Bertram House

This house is the only remaining example of the English Georgian-style red brick houses that were once common in Cape Town.

Bertram House is an example of a home of a prosperous English family of the first part of the 19th century.

A: Hiddingh Campus, Orange Str.

Open10:00 – 17:00

 

Bo-Kaap Museum

Showcases local Islamic culture and heritage.

A: 71 Wale Street.

Open Mon – Sat 10:00 – 17:00

 

District Six Museum

 

Originally established as a mixed community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans, labourers and immigrants, District Six was a vibrant centre with close links to the city and the port. By the beginning of the twentieth century, however, the process of removals and marginalisation had begun.

The first to be forced out were black South Africans who were displaced from the District in 1901. As the more prosperous moved away to the suburbs, the area became a neglected ward of the city. On 11 February 1966 it was declared a white area under the Group Areas Act of 1950, and by 1982, the life of the community was over. More than 60 000 people were forcibly removed to barren outlying areas aptly known as the Cape Flats, and their houses in District Six were flattened by bulldozers.

A: 25A Albertus St & Buitenkant Street.

Open Mon- Sat, 9:00- 16:00

 

South African Jewish Museum & Holocaust Centre

A moving tribute and detailed account of one of the great Jewish communities of the diaspora.

A: 88 Hatfield Street. Bo- Kaap.

Open Sun – Thurs 10:00 – 15:00, Fri 10:00 – 14:00

 

Cape Town Science Centre

A hub of science which aims to enrich the school curriculum and equip learners by providing valuable hands-on learning

experiences using world class exhibits and encourages children to learn and explore.

A: 370B Main Road, Observatory.

Open Mon to Sat 9:00 – 16:30, Sun & Public Holidays 10:00 – 16:30.

 

Heart of Cape Town Museum

 

The birthplace of the first ever human heart transplant.

A: Groote Schuur Hospital, Main road, Observatory.

Open 7 days a week between 9:00 – 17:00.

 

Irma Stern Museum

The home and studio of Irma Stern, a renowned South African artist. Comprises a permanent collection of her art and artefacts acquired during travels in Europe and Africa.

A: Cecil Road, Rosebank.

Open Tues –  Fri 10:00 – 17:00 & Sat 10:00 – 14:00

 

Koopmans-de Wet House

 

This house museum is furnished as a home for a well-to-do Cape family during the late 18th Century. It houses some of the best pieces of Cape furniture and silver in the country, in addition to a priceless collection of ceramics.

A: 35 Strand Street.

Open Mon to Fri 10:00 – 17:00.

 

Maritime Centre

Features an overview of shipping in Cape Town, and the earliest existing model of Table Bay harbour.

A: 1st Floor, Union-Castle House, Dock Rd, V&A Waterfront.

Open daily 10:00 – 17:00

 

Michaelis Collection at the Old Town House

A world-renowned selection of Nether landish art from the seventeenth- century  Golden Age.

A: Old Town House, Greenmarket Square.

Open daily 10:00 – 17:00

 

Planetarium

 

A celestial theatre in the round, utilising the complex Minolta star machine and multiple projectors to transport the audience through the wonders of the universe.

A: 25 Queen Victoria Str.

Open 10:00 – 17:00

 

Rust en Vreugd

 

Rust en Vreugd was built as a home for Willem Cornelis Boers, a high-ranking official of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) known as a fiscal, around 1777–1778.  In 1965, William Fehr donated his private collection of works of art on paper (watercolours, prints and drawings) to the people of South Africa. This gift is housed at Rust en Vreugd.

A: 78 Buitenkant Street. Open: Mon to Fri 10:00 – 17:00

 

The Springbok Experience- SA Rugby museum

 

An interactive museum, honouring the Springboks and South African rugby.

A: Portswood Rd, V&A Waterfront.

Open 7 days a week, 10:00- 18:00

 

Slave Lodge

 

The Slave Lodge is one of the oldest buildings in Cape Town. The many  names of the building over three centuries – Slave Lodge, Government Offices Building, Old Supreme Court,  and SA Cultural History Museum – reflect the long and rich history of the building. In 1998 this museum was renamed the Slave Lodge. Under the umbrella theme, ‘From human wrongs to human rights’, exhibitions on the lower level of this museum explore the long history ofslavery in South Africa. Through our changing, temporary exhibitions we address issues around and raise awareness of human rights.

A: Corner Adderley and Wale Streets.

Open: Mon to Sat 10:00 – 17:00

 

Social History Centre

The museum houses indigenous cultural   material from southern Africa, artefacts from the colonial period of the Cape,  including maritime and historical ar chaeology, as well as collections of world ceramics, furniture, coins and textiles, among others.

A: 17 Church Square.

Open Mon to Fri 10:00-  17:00

 

South African Museum

The collections now range from fossils almost 700-million years old to insects and fish caught last week. There are also stone tools made by people 120 000 years ago, traditional clothes from the last century, and T-shirts printed yesterday.

A: Company’s Garden.

Open daily 10:00- 17:00

 

South African National Gallery

The collections now range from fossils almost 700-million years old to insects and fish caught last week. There are also stone tools made by people 120 000 years  ago, traditional clothes from the last century, and T-shirts printed yesterday.

A: Company’s Garden.

Open:10:00 – 17:00

 

The New Church Museum

 

Making contemporary South African and African art accessible to the public. The Museum’s program includes exhibitions

by invited curators, whose research interests and curatorial sensibilities offer the public an active engagement with the permanent collection and with artworks loaned from other private and public museums and collections, nationally and internationally.

A: 102 New Church Street, Tamboerskloof.

Open Tues & Thurs: 12:00 – 15:00, Sat: 11:00 – 15:00

 

Zeitz museum of Contemporary Modern African Art (MOCAA)

 

A public not-for-profit cultural institution that focuses on collecting, preserving,researching, and exhibiting cutting edge contemporary art from Africa and its Diaspora, and developing supporting educational and enrichment programs for all.

A: Scheryn Pavilion at the V&A Waterfront by the Bascule Bridge near the Cape Grace.

Open midday to 20:00, every Wed to Sun. Opens to the public Spring 2017.

 

William Fehr Collection at the Castle of Good Hope

 

Fine and interesting examples of paintings and decorative arts of special relevance to the Cape are to be found in the William Fehr Collection. Contained in the collection is a wealth of historical information concerning the peoples and landscapes of early colonial South Africa.

Open daily 9:30 – 15:30.