Iziko Bo-Kaap Museum
Normal Price: Adult – R20 | Child – R10
What you get: Free entry to the museum
An interactive and moving exploration of Cape Town’s history and the culture of Bo-Kaap’s Cape Malay residents.
This is one of the oldest historic houses in the area, with exhibitions that recount the stories of the people who built this iconic city. Furnished as a house that depicts the lifestyle of a 19th-century Muslim family, and showcases local Islamic culture and heritage.
Bo-Kaap Museum Highlights
- Learn about the history of one of Cape Town’s most diverse areas
- Experience the stories and photographs of Bo-Kaap’s past and
- present residents
- Explore the colourful and lively Bo-Kaap neighbourhood
OVERVIEW
The Bo-Kaap Museum showcases local Islamic culture and heritage. It celebrates Bo-Kaap, a historic area that became home to many Muslims and freed slaves after the abolition of slavery. The Bo-Kaap Museum was established in 1978 as a satellite of the South African Cultural History Museum. It is furnished as a house that depicts the lifestyle of a 19th-century Muslim family. The Bo-Kaap neighbourhood, with colourful houses, steep cobbled streets, the muezzin’s calls to prayer and children traditionally dressed for Madrassa, is a unique Cape Town experience and well worth a visit.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Hours: Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm
Phone: +27 (0)21 481 3938
Website: www.iziko.org.za
THINGS TO KNOW
ADVICE FOR VISITORS
Today, the Bo-Kaap Museum is in a transformation stage and is becoming a social history museum that will tell the Bo-Kaap community’s story. Using a national socio-political and cultural context and new displays, visitors will experience a living history of the culture that has impacted Cape Town and South Africa.
Expect interactive exhibitions and hear first-hand the stories and anecdotes of Bo-Kaap residents past and present, who share their lives and photographs in an exciting and touching way.
DID YOU KNOW
The City of Cape Town was built over almost three centuries of colonial rule. The Bo-Kaap Museum explores this past in an exhibition that covers the early expansion of the city, racial discrimination prior to apartheid and the working lives of those who helped shape this city.
