The Apartheid Museum is a museum in Johannesburg, South Africa illustrating apartheid and the 20th century history of South Africa. The museum, part of the Gold Reef City complex, was opened in November 2001.
Since 2001, the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg has been the world’s leading authority on the events of the 20th century in South Africa. Part of the Gold Reef City entertainment complex, the museum offers an emotional insight into the period of state-sanctioned racism and segregation that lasted from 1948 to 1994. It documents the struggle of the South African people to overcome apartheid and illustrates how the country is attempting to work towards a brighter future. For anyone with an interest in South African history, it is one of Johannesburg’s must-visit attractions.
What to See
The museum comprises 22 individual exhibition areas, all of which use a combination of artifacts, photographs, film footage and information panels to document the rise and fall of apartheid and to give visitors an idea of what it was like to live in South Africa at the time. It also hosts regular temporary exhibitions including one dedicated to the life of Nelson Mandela. The museum experience begins at the entrance, where guests are arbitrarily divided into “whites” and “non-whites” and made to enter through separate doors—giving a powerful taste of a time when people were grouped into four racial categories and treated accordingly.
Once inside, exhibitions include “Apartheid,” “The Turn to Violence,” “The Homelands” and “The Truth and Reconciliation Commission.” The first explores the social and political factors that led to the creation of the apartheid regime and features a list of apartheid laws as well as photographs of the forced relocations that took place under the Group Areas Act of 1950. “The Turn to Violence” documents the ANC and the PAC’s decision to form underground armed wings in the wake of the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960.
Several exhibitions feature the powerful photographs of Ernest Cole, a black photojournalist who was eventually forced into exile.
Nelson Mandela Sculpture
The Apartheid Museum is also home to a small-scale replica of the Nelson Mandela sculpture located at the museum-affiliated Capture Site in KwaZulu-Natal. The original sculpture was erected in 2012 on the roadside between Nottingham Road and Howick, at the site where Mandela was arrested in 1962. This historic date was the former president’s last day of freedom before beginning 27 years of imprisonment. Created by sculptor Marco Cianfanelli, both the original sculpture and the replica at the Apartheid Museum consist of 50 poles that line up at a certain point to create an image of Mandela’s face.
Intended to promote the idea that the many make the whole, the sculptures celebrate Mandela as the iconic representation of all who suffered under apartheid
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