Half Day Apartheid Museum Tour

The Apartheid Museum that opened in 2001 is home to displays dealing with 20th Century South Africa and its apartheid story and is acknowledged as the finest museum of its kind in the world.

Beginning in 1948, the white-elected National Party government implemented the policy of apartheid which turned 20 million people into second class citizens, damning them to a life of servitude, humiliation and abuse. Their liberation in 1994 with the election of Nelson Mandela, the prisoner who became president, is a climax in the saga of a nation's resistance, courage and fortitude.

The Apartheid Museum, the first of its kind, illustrates the rise and fall of apartheid.

An architectural consortium, comprising several leading architectural firms, conceptualised the design of the building on a seven-hectare stand. The museum is a superb example of design, space and landscape offering the international community a unique South African experience.

The exhibits have been assembled and organised by a multi-disciplinary team of curators, film-makers, historians and designers.

They include provocative film footage, photographs, text panels and artefacts illustrating the events and human stories that are part of the epic saga known as apartheid.

For anyone wanting to understand and experience what apartheid South Africa was really like, a visit to the Apartheid Museum is fundamental.

The museum is a beacon of hope showing the world how South Africa is coming to terms with its oppressive past and working towards a future that all South Africans can call their own.