Museums and Attractions

Struggle history

Constitution Hill with the new Court, the old Fort and the old Prison Buildings - excellent introduction to the geography and lay-out of Johannesburg from the Fort ramparts and the history of Johannesburg and South Africa. There are organized tours every hour on the hour. And of course the Constitutional Court judges, in choosing to locate their court at this symbolically charged site, have invested this dark place with a sense of hope and optimism. 011 381-3100; www.constitutionhill.org.za Closed Sundays and Saturday afternoons.
Apartheid Museum www.apartheidmuseum.org 011 309 4700 Open every day 10 - 5 (next door to Gold Reef City and on the way to Soweto). A great building but a very text heavy museum - lots of reading and many videos. Takes about 3 hours. Well worth it though.
Hector Pieterson Museum, one of the first museums in Soweto, it opened in 16 June 2002 two blocks away from where Hector Pieterson was killed on 16 June 1976. A small, manageable and moving museum. 8288 Maseko Street Orlando West 011- 536 0611; open 7 days a week.
Mandela Museum the house that Mandela lived in from 1946 to 1962 and which Mandela donated to the Soweto Heritage Trust (of which he is the founder) on 1 September 1997, to run as a museum. Extensive upgrades were made to the museum which re-opened to the public in March 2009. 011 936 7754 www.mandelahouse.com
Liliesleaf in Rivonia, Sandton. Once the farmhouse which was used by Umkhonto we Sizwe, the military wing of the ANC, it was here that 19 members of the ANC underground were arrested in 1963. Nine of these activists, along with Mandela, were later tried at the Rivonia trial where Mandela made his world famous defence speech. State of the art interactive displays make for fascinating (if sanitized) viewing. Open daily 9-4. www.liliesleaf.co.za

Origins of humankind

Origins Centre Rock Art Museum, Wits www.origins.org.za 9-5 daily; excellent museum - well-conceived and one of the few museums that is still well-maintained. gift shop and café R45 entrance adults; R22 children under 12; Guided tours provided plus taped tours available in English, French, German, Afrikaans, Zulu and Sotho
Cradle of Humankind (40 minute drive) Comprises the Maropeng Information Centre which is about a 10km drive from the caves themselves (at Sterkfontein). There are tours through the caves at Sterkfontein during the day; check times before going. There is a small but very good museum at the Sterkfontein site 011668 3200 www.discoveryourself.co.za

Places of Interest

A little jewel of a museum is Satyagraha House in Orchards. Little known even to Joburgers, this house is where Mohandas Gandhi lived while in Johannesburg from 1908-9. It is here that the future Mahatma developed his philosophy of passive resistance known in Sanskrit as Satyagraha. And it was this pacifist method of protest that he employed in India to lead the country to independence. www.satyagrahahouse.com.
See www.lizatlancaster.co.za/blog/gandhi-johannesburg-birth-satyagraha
Newtown Cultural Precinct see www.newtown.co.za includes MuseumAfrica - Closed Mondays 011 833 5624 exhibits from the Stone Age to the present day; It has an amazing historical collection but like the Johannesburg Art Gallery below, is under resourced and is a shameful embarrassment. So until the standard of the Museum improves it is not recommended.
SciBono Discovery Centre; Closed Mondays; visited a lot by local school children and according to a Canadian guest who is a curator of science exhibitions for young people, it is well worth a visit. 011 639 8400 www.sci-bono.co.za
South African Breweries World of Beer Museum 011 836 4900 Closed Mondays a huge amount of money has been spent on this museum and after a very very weak start including a dramatic display of the elements and their special effects (connection to the history of beer is tenuous ?) there are some interesting displays. www.worldofbeer.co.za
Although this isn't a museum as such, if you can, visit the Anglo Gold Headquarters cr Jeppe and West St. Enter from West St. It is a really wonderful example of adaptive re-use of an industrial building - the old turbine hall which housed the turbines for the electrical power station which supplied much of Johannesburg's electricity. For more see my blog. There is also night life at Bassline; Carfax in Pim St, Market Theatre.
The Wits Art Museum, known very zappily as WAM, opened in May 2012 at no 1 Jan Smuts Ave. This contemporary space, home to a collection of about 9000 art works, is the first Museum in South Africa dedicated to African Art. It’s a major contribution both to Wits’ link with the City, as well as to the conversation with the burgeoning creative arts spaces that have opened up in Braamfontein. Unfortunately finding parking remains a challenge. It is well worth the visit though, both to see the permanent display as well as current exhibitions. See www.wits.ac.za/wam/15930/wam.html

Other cultural experiences

Lesedi Cultural Village is a 50 minute drive from Joburg on the R512 towards Hartebeespoort dam - 082 523 4539 www.lesedi.com. Here mock villages introduce you to 5 of the rural ethnic groups of South Africa whose traditional rural cultural practices are theatrically re-enacted: amaZulu, Pedi, amaNdebele, Xhosa and Sotho (no reference to urban living here!) Very touristy but well-done. 2 shows a day 11.30 to 2.30 and 16.30 to 19.30; advisable to book. If self-drive rates for show and including lunch/dinner R430 pp; excluding lunch/dinner R265 pp. Do the late afternoon show when it is not mid-winter and stay for dinner at Nyama Chomo. Very touristy but well done and well worth a visit.
Gold Reef City: Theme Park of early Johannesburg and early mining adjacent to the amusement park 011 248-6800 Closed Mondays Open every other day 9.30-5. (Next door to Apartheid Museum) www.goldreefcity.co.za. Well worth it to go down a mine.
Johannesburg Art Gallery, Joubert Park Closed Mondays Like MuseumAfrica, a city funded art gallery which is embarrassingly under-resourced and under-funded. An excellent collection with totally inadequate human and financial resources to maintain and display it as it should be: Johannesburg's flagship of South African art. It doesn't even have a website. What more can one say? Closed Mondays
National Museum of Military History: Situated next to the Zoo. 011 646-5513 Open Daily 9-16.30 I'm not a military machinery person but it provides an interesting overview of South Africa's military history including resistance movements and the integration of Umkonto we-Sizwe (MK) post 1994 www.militarymuseum.co.za
If you are going to visit a Game Reserve where you will be away from urban lights and out in the bush, make a trip to the Planetarium at Wits University first, so that you can make the most of stargazing in the Southern hemisphere. There are shows every Thursday and Friday at 8pm and Saturday mornings and afternoons and sometimes by special arrangement. 011 717-1392 www.planetarium.co.za
Walking tours of the early mining days and colonial history of Johannesburg: join one of the Parktown Westcliff Heritage Trust walking tours - they are interesting although the content is not always rigorously critical. Visit www.parktownheritage.co.za for the programme and prices.