The Greater Johannesburg Area is home to the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site and has a rich social and cultural history reflected in many of its museums.
A number of museums (but not all) are detailed bellow. Please see also
The Apartheid Museum
Gold Reef City
Cradle of Humankind
Thoroughbred Breeders Association Museum
The AECI Dynamite Factory Museum, housed in the 1895 residence of a mining official, records the history of explosives, with particular emphasis on their use in the mining industry. It also provides a social commentary and insight into the part played by some of the world famous figures who helped shape the destiny of southern Africa.
Address:
2 Main Street, Modderfontein, Kempton Park
Tel: (011) 606-3206
Mon & Fri: 10:00-14:00
Wed: 14:00-16:30
It is the only museum of its kind in South Africa and provides a nucleus of Museum and military history expertise in southern Africa. At the Museum you can see all types of guns, tanks, armoured cars, aircraft and naval hardware, including a one man submarine called the Molch used by the Germans in the Second World War (1939 - 1945).
Address:
Erlswold Way, Saxonwold (adjacent to the Johannesburg Zoo)
Work phone: 011 6465513
Fax: 011 6465256
History of Medicine, brainchild of Dr Cyril Adler, was formally inaugurated 1962. The Museum`s role was to collect and preserve for posterity all material that would illustrate the History of medicine in general and of South Africa in particular.
Address:
Witwatersrand Medical School, 7 York Road, Parktown, Johannesburg
Work phone: 011 7172081.
You step into the typical 1950s shebeen at MuseuMAfricA in Newtown, down town Johannesburg, and an automatic motion monitor churns out a Marabi tune. Such exhibits, laying bare, as they do, the heart and soul of inner city Johannesburg, make a trip to the museum a worthwhile experience.
Address:
121 Bree St, Newtown
Tel: (011) 833-5624
Tues - Sun: 9:00 - 17:00
Constitution Hill is the home of the Constitutional Court, but also the site of Johannesburgs notorious Old Fort Prison Complex, commonly known as Number Four, where thousands of ordinary people were brutally punished before the dawn of democracy in 1994. Many of South Africas leading political activists, including Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, were detained here.
Address:
Corner Kotze and Hospital streets, Braamfontein, Johannesburg
Tel: (011) 274 5300, 403 5191
Daily: 9:00 to 17:00
Accommodation near Constitution Hill
The Hector Peterson Museum in Soweto commemorates the 566 people who died in the student uprising that followed the events of June 16, 1976. The museum is named for Hector Peterson, a 12-year-old boy who was the first person shot dead by police on that day, and is located near a memorial to his death.
Address:
8288 Maseko Street, Orlando West, Soweto
Tel: (011) 536 0611
Mon - Sat: 10:00 to 17:00
Sun: 10:00 to 16:00
The James Hall museum of Transport is the largest and most comprehensive museum of land transport in South Africa. It was established by the late Jimmie Hall together with the City of Johannesburg in February 1964.
Address:
Pioneers' Park, Rosettenville Rd, La Rochelle
Tel: (011) 435-9718
Tues - Sun: 09:00-17:00
The museum, a house comprising four inter-leading rooms, contains an assortment of memorabilia, paintings and photographs of the former president of South Africa.
Address:
Open 9:30am to 5pm daily.
8115 Ngakane Street, Orlando West, Soweto
Tel: +27 (0)11 936-7754.
We are who we are because of who we were... A visit to the newly opened Origins Centre is an absolute must for every tourist visiting South Africa. The journey begins with the origins of humankind in Africa and then moves through the development of art, symbolism, technology the very things that give us our humanity on the continent.
Address:
Open from Monday to Sunday 09h00 - 17h00
Cnr Yale & Enoch Sontonga Roads, Wits University, Braamfontein
Tel: +27 (0)11 717-4700
The only Aviation Museum dedicated to the preservation of Civil Aviation in South Africa. Based at the Transvaal Aviation Club building at Rand Airport, in Germiston, it has a collection of aircraft from piston to jet engine. The aircraft park boasts two Boeing 747 aircraft, a B747-200 and a B747SP.
The Museum Display hall houses an impressive collection of aviation artefacts and memorabilia. The library has a wonderful assortment of aviation literature. The Museum also has a collection of serviceable Classic Propeller Driven Airliners which still ply their trade.
Address:
Off Dakota Crescent, Rand Airport.
Phone: +27 (0) 83 459-7802
GPS co-ordinates: -26 14' 30.23", +28 9' 33.44"
SAB World of Beer is a fun-filled showcase of brewing. From ancient Mesopotamia, through Africa and Europe, the tour unveils beer's heritage all the way to a honky-tonk pub of Johannesburg's mining camp days and a traditional Soweto shebeen.
Address:
15 President Street, entrance in Becker Street
Newtown Cultural Precinct
Johannesburg
Tel: (011) 836 4900
Bernberg Fashion Museum is a primarily a museum collection, consisting of objects, and explains why and how clothing has changed and how the fashions of the past influence those of today.
Address:
Corner Duncombe Rd and Jan Smuts Ave, Forest Town, Johannesburg
Temp closed. Please check with Museum Africa (Tel: (011) 833-5624) when opening.
The Zoology Museum is the only natural history museum in Johannesburg which is unusual since all the other major cities in South Africa have large public natural history museums. It has retained a unique character as the display specimens are exhibited in finely crafted teak cabinets which allow the viewer to engage directly with scores of objects at close range.
Address:
First floor, Old Education Building, Wits East Campus (opposite the Oppenheimer Life Science Building)
Work phone: 011 7176464
The Bensusan Museum of Photography records the story of photography's evolution. The Photo Gallery hosts regular exhibitions by local and international photographers.
Address:
In the top of the Museum Africa building - 121 Bree Street - Newtown
Open: Tuesdays - Sundays : 09:00 - 17:00
Phone Number: 011-833-5624
Fax Number: 011-833-5636
Accommodation in Johannesburg Metropole are found in areas such as Sandton, Johannesburg City, Randburg, Roodepoort, Benoni and Kempton Park or Accommodation near OR Tambo International Airport.
Johannesburg offers a host of attractions and activities, and offers the visitor many things to do.
There is no easier way to explore Johannesburg, Soweto, the Cradle of Humankind and environs, than joining a scheduled half-day or day tour.
