The District Six Museum in Cape Town was established in December 1994 to serve as a remembrance to the events of the apartheid era as well as the culture and history of the "District Six" before the removals.
The "Sixth Municipal District of Cape Town" or simply "District Six" used to be a mixed community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans, labourers and immigrants from around the world. Not for long though - already in 1901 the history of removals began with the resettlement of black South Africans. In 1966 the area was declared a white area under the Group areas Act of 1950, and by 1982, the life of the community was over. 60 000 people were forcibly removed to barren outlying areas aptly known as the Cape Flats, and their houses in District Six were flattened by bulldozers.
The today's museum is not a big museum in terms of size, but one of them places visitors coming to Cape Town shouldn't miss. It is demonstrating you in a very special way, why Cape Town is what it is like today. The roots of the very Cape Town feeling are defo lying here - the art, the colourful people, the cosmopolitan vibe. All that seems to come from that particular "District Six" that the Apartheid government tried to destroy. As I said - if you are in Cape Town make sure that you are visiting this eye-opening museum!
Opening times:
09h00 – 14h00 Mondays (doors close at 13h30)
09h00 - 16h00 Tuesdays - Saturdays (Sundays are by appointment only)
Physical Address:
25A Buitenkant Street, Cape Town, 8001
South Africa
Tel/ Fax: +27(0)21 466 7200
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