 Sign at the entrance to the Museum Africa | |
  Museum Africa Location within South Africa | |
Former name | Africana Museum (1935–1994) |
|---|---|
| Established | 1933; 92 years ago (1933) |
| Location | Newtown, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Coordinates | 26°12′06″S28°01′52″E / 26.2018°S 28.0312°E /-26.2018; 28.0312 |
| Website | Museumwebsite |
Museum Africa orMuseuMAfricA (formerly known as theAfricana Museum) is a historical museum inNewtown, Johannesburg, South Africa.
The museum was established in 1933, when theJohannesburg Public Library bought a large quantity ofAfricana material and books fromJohn Gaspard Gubbins.[1] From the mid-1930s, the museum's scope widened to include all aspects of African cultural history and material culture.
The museum regularly published catalogues of the Africana it had in its collections, with titles such as "Military medals of South African interest", "Artists' impressions of Johannesburg, 1886-1956" and "Claudius water-colours in the Africana Museum".[2] From 1943 to 1993 the museum also published the quarterly journalAfricana Notes and News.[3]
The museum established the following branch museums: James Hall Museum of Transport, 1964; Bensusan Photographic Museum and Library, 1969; The Museum of South African Rock Art, 1969; and the Bernberg Museum of Costume, 1973. In 1978, it took over the Museum of Man and Science.[3]
In1994, after the fall ofapartheid and the election of a representative democratic government in South Africa, the museum was refurbished and renamed MuseuMAfricA.
MuseuMAfrica launched an exhibit entitled "Never, never again" which led to the establishment of theHector Pieterson Museum inSoweto. TheApartheid Museum inGold Reef City was created and run by Christopher Till, former head of the Africana Museum.[3]
The museum is housed in the city's former fruit and vegetable market in Newtown, built in 1913, located oppositeMary Fitzgerald Square, on the same block as theMarket Theatre.
The museum has collections of African material culture from across the continent, including noted collections oftokens, musical instruments and head-rests.
Permanent exhibitions includeMyCulture which outlines the different South African cultural and ethnic groups, their origins and how these groups have changed over time;[4]Johannesburg Transformations, highlighting the momentous changes that the city has undergone in its history;[5] andTried for Treason an exhibition detailing theRivonia Trial involving 156 defendants, includingNelson Mandela.
The Bensusan Museum of Photography collects rare and valuable precision-made photographic equipment, some dating from theVictorian andEdwardian eras[4] and pictures made using this equipment including wet-plate prints, stereoscopic views and digital images.
The Geology Museum collection consists of over 17 000 rock and mineral samples from Southern Africa, including from theTsumeb area ofNamibia (an area with diverse mineral deposits), theWitwatersrandreefs (a gold mining area), and theOkiep area (a copper mining region).
The Workers' Museum, located two blocks away opposite the Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, is a branch of the museum which tells the story of the migrant labourers who came from across Southern Africa and other parts of the world to work in the gold mines of Johannesburg.[4]
During the level 1 lockdown imposed on South Africa during the 2020COVID-19 pandemic, museums were closed along with all such public buildings.[6] In November 2020 a break-in and robbery occurred. No artefacts from the museum were taken buttap fittings and basins were removed, resulting in partial flooding of the museum and possible damage to stored exhibits.[7]
